16% of Whitehall Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #224 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 135 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 2000.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Whitehall Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #224 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Whitehall Township’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 Whitehall Township’s 51.8 sits above most of its state (86% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 152 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.1 points).
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 →
What stands out about Whitehall Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
18cemeteries and burying grounds inside Whitehall Township
Agudas AchimArlingtonBeth - El Memorial ParkEgyptFairviewGarden of PeaceLaurelMuslimOur Lady of Mount CarmelResurrectionSacred HeartSaint John the Baptist Roman CatholicSaint Johns UnionSaint Mary's Ukrainian Orthodox ChurchSaint Michael and Saint Andrew ByzantineSaint Peter's CatholicShari SholomSons of Israel
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Whitehall Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Whitehall Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The Province of Pennsylvania was created in 1681 when King Charles II granted a charter of land in America to William Penn.
After the death of Penn, his sons, John, Thomas, and Richard, became the owners of Pennsylvania. The Lenape Indian tribe deeded that part of Lehigh County lying between the South Mountain and Blue Mountain to Penn's sons in 1736.
A wave of German immigrants from Germany's Palatinate settled in Whitehall Township. The first was Jacob Kohler, who settled in the vicinity of Egypt about 1728. The settlers staked their claim on the lands by applying to the Penns for a land warrant. They cleared the land for farming and established churches around which villages grew.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Whitehall Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1942Allentown West 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 Whitehall Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewFlag of Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, 1971
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Whitehall Township’s page.
Whitehall Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #224 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.
What is on the National Register in Whitehall Township?
5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Helfrich's Springs Grist Mill (listed 1977, the first), 1 historic district, the Hokendauqua Thomas Iron Company Town Historic District, with 135 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 152 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Whitehall Township?
16% of Whitehall 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 1967.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
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