Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Sdwelch1031 · Public domainMore historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #711 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Lightfoot Mill, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 11 buildings between them. Most of West Pikeland Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1906 on and the census since 1930.
The West Pikeland Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Yellow Springs (1818), Pikeland (1828) and West Pikeland (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 53% 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 Pikeland Township is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #711 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 Pikeland Township’s 57.0 sits above most of its state (86% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 23 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Four 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 Pikeland Township’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of West Pikeland Township.
The Chester Springs Historic District, Clinger-Moses Mill Complex, Fagley House, Ker-Feal, Lightfoot Mill, and Rice-Pennebecker Farm are 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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Pikeland 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 Pikeland Township.
Between 592 and 4,024 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Pikeland Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in West Pikeland Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The West Pikeland Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
West Pikeland Township is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #711 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.
6 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Lightfoot Mill (a National Historic Landmark since 2005), and 2 historic districts, the Chester Springs Historic District and the Rice-Pennebecker Farm, with 11 contributing buildings. 23 historic buildings in all.
6% of West Pikeland Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
