Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #516 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of West Lampeter Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, West Lampeter Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #516 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Lampeter Township’s 10.4 sits above most of its state (77% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 18 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how West Lampeter Township’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of West Lampeter Township.
The Johannes Harnish Farmstead, Christian and Emma Herr Farm, Hans Herr House, Lime Valley Covered Bridge, Neff's Mill Covered Bridge, Park Site, Rock Ford Plantation, and Weber-Weaver Farm are all located in this township and are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Lampeter Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of West Lampeter Township.
Between 13,145 and 17,365 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Lampeter Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in West Lampeter Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
West Lampeter Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #516 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Hans Herr House (listed 1971, the first), and 1 historic district, the Christian and Emma Herr Farm, with 6 contributing buildings. 18 historic buildings in all.
8% of West Lampeter Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1990.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
