Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1883.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives West Conshohocken’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, West Conshohocken is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of West Conshohocken’s overall grade.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so West Conshohocken’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.7 points). Two sources give 1874.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about West Conshohocken’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Conshohocken. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1894Norristown sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of West Conshohocken.
People over time
West Conshohocken, census by census
Peaked at 2,579 in 1930; 1,493 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Conshohocken’s Wikipedia page.
West Conshohocken was incorporated October 6, 1874, from land taken almost equally from Lower and Upper Merion Townships. The area's original name had been Balligomingo. As a river borough, there were a large number of mills and other industries utilizing water power. Dougherty Quarry was a prosperous business, producing stone of superior quality known as Conshohocken or Merion Blue. It was much sought after for public buildings, and was shipped by rail throughout the East Coast before supplies were exhausted in the mid-20th century.
What they wrote about West Conshohocken, 1884–1923
Passages that mention West Conshohocken, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1923 · page 19Read the page →
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From the Chester county line to the Schuylkill at West Conshohocken there is no difficulty whatever in finding excellent exposures of trap, especially along the river at West Conshohocken, where there is an abutment of trap and numerous weathered boulders along the railroad. Between Conshohocken and Marble Hall the dyke can be traced easily. It passes directly through Conshohocken and crosses five of the county roads before it reaches Marble Hall ; between these two points there are many loose boulders of rock. From Marble Hall to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1923 · page 339Read the page →
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Upper Merion— This township is situated on the south side of the Schuylkill river and is bounded on the northwest, north and northeast by that stream, on the northeast by Bridgeport borough, on the southeast by West Conshohocken and Lower Merion township, on the south by the counties of Chester and Delaware, and on the southwest by Chester. Its area is 10,200 acres, as originally organized, but with the incorporation of the borough of Bridgeport 450 acres were taken from it. Again, in 1874 about 290 acres were taken from it by the borough
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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1884 · page 800Read the page →
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and several mechanic shops, which bore the name of Balligomingo. When the Merion Furnace and a few houses were built at the west end of the bridge, in 1847, the name of West Conshohocken was given to it. In 1858 it contained twenty-three houses, a store and a blacksmith-shop. The furnace then gave employment to thirty hands. A block-printing establishment and a bleaching-works had been formerly car-
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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1884 · page 599Read the page →
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five hundred tons per annum. In addition to the two blast furnaces, as above described, there is a fine mansion-house and about eleven acras of laud, situated in the borough of West Conshohocken, belonging to the corporation, together with all the tools, implements, railroad-cars, horses, carts and necessary working fixtures, all of which were included in the purchase of the property, at a cost of two hundred
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
West Conshohocken, 1874 to 1935
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1874, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. West Conshohocken’s post office opened in 1883, and the census of 1880 counted 1,462 people here.
How does West Conshohocken rank for history?
West Conshohocken is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in West Conshohocken?
46% of West Conshohocken’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1949.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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