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History · Fulton

Fulton’s post office opened in 1843, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1910.

1843first post office

0on the National Register

45%homes built before 1940

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Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick answers

How Fulton began

When was Fulton founded?

1843

The Fulton post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 296 in 19102020 census: 303183 years

Founding year: the first Fulton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Fulton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Fulton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 410 in 1960; 303 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Fulton’s homes were built before 1945.Deep rootsA post office since 1843: 183 years of Fulton.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fulton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fulton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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People over time

Fulton, census by census

Peaked at 410 in 1960; 303 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fulton’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Fulton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fulton.

Read it all →

Fulton took its name from Fulton County. The Fulton post office was established in 1843. In 1850 the first log cabin was erected in Fulton. Robert Aitken and family were the first occupants of the cabin and occupied a saw mill in the town. The village roads and markers were laid out in 1851 by Judge Wright of Logansport. The first schoolhouse was erected in 1845. In 1909 the first brick school was built. In 1852 the first church was erected by the Methodists. In late 1853 the Baptists also organized a church. Robert Aitken, the first settler, was appointed by the government as first postmaster in 1851. A tannery was established in 1851, and then a second tannery in 1853. Other additional businesses included a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, a carpet weaver, and an inn, erected in 1852 and eventually became a hotel. There was also a wood shop and other small businesses. The…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Fulton, 1878–1888

Passages that mention Fulton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

At a meeting of the board of commissioners of Lucas county, held at Maumee June 2, 1846, upon the petition of many residents of Fulton township, it was ordered that the south tier of sections in township nine south, range four east, be taken from Amboy township and attached to Fulton township, so t… — **History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio**1888 · page 490Read the page →
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At a meeting of the board of commissioners of Lucas county, held at Maumee June 2, 1846, upon the petition of many residents of Fulton township, it was ordered that the south tier of sections in township nine south, range four east, be taken from Amboy township and attached to Fulton township, so that Fulton township at present contains thirty sections, including the six fractional sections of town ten south, range four east, north of the Fulton line.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

— fomierh Warrensbush: while (.■aiighnaw3g;t bnd its sub'^tantial stone church — built in 1763 — and surrounding hamlet, and Johnstown, the shire town of Montgomerycounty, as it had been of Tryon county, was a village of considerable impf)rtance. The creation of Fulton county caused a division al t… — **History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y.**1878Read the page →
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— fomierh Warrensbush: while (.■aiighnaw3g;t bnd its sub'^tantial stone church — built in 1763 — and surrounding hamlet, and Johnstown, the shire town of Montgomerycounty, as it had been of Tryon county, was a village of considerable impf)rtance. The creation of Fulton county caused a division al this town, and the northern portion was set off April i8ih. 1838, to form the town of Perth Fulton county . which bounds it on the north.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Thus having erected and described the boundaries of the county of Fulton on the 28th day of February, 1850 (the same being so named in honor of Robert Fulton), provision was next made for the administration of its affairs by section two of the act, as follows: All suits, whether of a civil or crimi… — **History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio**1888 · page 286Read the page →
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Thus having erected and described the boundaries of the county of Fulton on the 28th day of February, 1850 (the same being so named in honor of Robert Fulton), provision was next made for the administration of its affairs by section two of the act, as follows: All suits, whether of a civil or criminal nature, which shall be pending within those parts of the counties of Lucas, Henry and Williams, so set off" and erected into a new county previous to the first Monday in April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution within the counties of Lucas, Henry
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

Fulton, 1843 to 1960

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1843Post officeThe Fulton post office opens
20th century
1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1960CensusPopulation peaks at 410

By decade

Fulton, decade by decade

Today3 recent

2021Fulton sign 2488

2020Main Street 20-10-22 066

2020Fulton 20-10-22 061

On the map

Fulton on the map, 1960 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fulton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1960Fulton sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fulton.

Questions about Fulton’s history

What year was Fulton founded?

The Fulton post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, 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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