Founding year: the first White Haven post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1842.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives White Haven’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, White Haven is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of White Haven’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 White Haven’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 B− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1842 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 White Haven’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
White Haven was created in 1824 by industrialist Josiah White. It was incorporated as a borough in 1842.
Early European explorers to the Wyoming Valley encountered a new form of coal, known as anthracite, that was abundant throughout the Coal Region. Anthracite was a valuable commodity without a good use. On February 11, 1808, Wilkes-Barre Judge Jesse Fell created the first iron grate in the valley to successfully burn anthracite. This invention increased the popularity of anthracite as a fuel source. This led to the expansion of the coal industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
mediate towns and country. But little, it is thought, reached New York and the East from this region until the opening of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's canal from JMauch Chunk to White Haven, and their railroad from White Haven to Wilkes- Barre across the mountain over the planes at Solomon's Gap in 1846. This railroad had been run by horse-power for a year or so
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections1893 · page 532Read the page →
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One of the most important improvements consists of the "planes." In 1843 the Lehigh & Susquehanna railroad was completed from White Haven to Wilkes- Barre, to facilitate the supply of coal to the New York and Philadelphia trade, then rapidly growing. At first, light trains for freight and passengers were hauled up the mountain by horses, the entire distance between Wilkes-Barre and White Haven, but in 1846 this mode of transportation stopped. The railroad was opened for full traffic only in 1847; even then, horses were used to haul trains everywhere except at the "planes," or where gravity would do it. The trains were hauled up the
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In 1843 the Lehigh and Susquehanna railroad was completed from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre, tapping the Wyoming coal fields to help supply the growing New York and Philadelphia markets, together with the intermediate towns, by way of the Lehigh, Delaware, Morris and Raritan canals. The stationary engines at the planes were not run. Light freight and passengers were taken in cars drawn by horses the entire distance between Wilkes-Barre and White Haven. A few cars of coal were hauled
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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections1893 · page 1334Read the page →
Read the text
a farm hand, working as sucli until 1802. Though lie never spent his " time " at the trade, yet he hired as a carpenter on the building of the old Pittston bridge, on which he worked for about a year. Giving up the trade, he went to work in a sawmill in White Haven, and followed same for twelve years between there and Spring Brook. During this time he saved enough money to build a property in Pittston, but in 1874 he sold it, and with the proceeds purchased the place he now lives on. It was then known as " Seven Mile Jakes," and was a wild, uncultivated tract of 700 acres with nothing on it but an old log hut and barn. Now he has
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
White Haven, 1836 to 1960
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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The White Haven post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1842.
How does White Haven rank for history?
White Haven is more historic than 76% 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 White Haven?
47% of White Haven’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1946.
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 (12), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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