Founding year: the first Whitaker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Whitaker’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Whitaker is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Whitaker’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 Whitaker’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 D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Whitaker’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 2,217 in 1940; 1,179 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Whitaker’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Whitaker on the map, 1904 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Whitaker. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1904Pittsburgh 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 Whitaker.
The story so far
Whitaker, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Whitaker yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Whitaker is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is on the Monongahela River 3 miles (5 km) upriver from Pittsburgh. The population was 1,179 at the 2020 census. The borough is named for James Whitaker, a pioneer settler. Whitaker was incorporated January 4, 1904, from part of the former Mifflin Township.
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,271 to 1,179 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Whitaker, 1904 to 1945
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Whitaker post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Whitaker rank for history?
Whitaker is more historic than 35% 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 Whitaker?
32% of Whitaker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 Library of Congress (5), 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.
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