Most of Roaring Spring's architecture belongs to a nationally common set of styles and types influenced by the rise of the railroad after 1850. The Pennsylvania Railroad's connection to the town in 1871 had a significant effect on this development by drawing the paper mill, and with it the village, into the mainstream of national commerce. The railroad opened national markets to the paper mill, allowing its business to expand beyond a narrow regional scope. By the mid-19th century, as Roaring Spring was first growing, the regional peculiarities of folk architecture were gradually disappearing under the railroad's and the industrial revolution's influences. As the town grew with the paper mill, especially after the P.R.R.'s branch line opened, the new housing styles reflected national trends rather than local vernacular traditions.