Founding year: the first Youngwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1899.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Youngwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Youngwood is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #814 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Youngwood’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 Youngwood’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 C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1899 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 Youngwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was established in 1899 and was built on land owned by John Y. Woods, a farmer. In creating the name Youngwood, John Y. Woods took his own family name and combined it with his maternal grandfather's name, which was Young.
Youngwood owes its existence to the Southwest Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which ran from Greensburg south to Uniontown and Fairchance. In 1900, a large classification yard was built for sorting railroad cars, and this railroad yard provided Youngwood's economic base for many decades.
Youngwood became a borough on November 10, 1902. The year 1902 was also the date of Youngwood's railroad station, which still stands on Depot Street.
Passages that mention Youngwood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania1906 · page 209Read the page →
Read the text
from the firm, and Mr. Wineman and Mr. Bortz contimied the business. In 1899 Mr. W'ineman purchased his present farm of one hundred acres in Hempfield township and removed to his new home the same spring. When the town of Youngwood was laid out he opened a butcher shop, and the firm are now conducting markets in Greensburg and Youngwood, carrying on an extentive business as dealers in meats. Mr. W'ineman is a man of much business resource and ability. He has made judicious investment in property, owning real estate in both boroughs as well as his farm. He was also one of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania1906 · page 199Read the page →
Read the text
varied one, he having been engaged in numerous business enterprises in diiTerent parts of western Pennsylvania. He removed, August 19, 1901, to Youngwood from West Newton, where he was engaged in the grocery business for four years. On coming to Youngwood he established a bakery which he is now conducting, and in this enterprise is meeting with desirable sucess. There were only four or five houses in the borough when he located here, but with the rapid growth of the place his business has also grown. He is a man of genial disposition and commercial integrity, and numbers among his friends the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Youngwood, 1891 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Youngwood post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1899.
How does Youngwood rank for history?
Youngwood is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #814 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.
How old are the homes in Youngwood?
24% of Youngwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (9), 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 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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