Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 2000.
The Ovid Township post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Ovid (1837) and Lockwood (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ovid Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Ovid Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ovid Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ovid Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ovid Township is a civil township of Branch County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,161 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1837. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,326 to 2,161 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ovid Township.
1953Fort Wayne sheet · 1:250,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ovid Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ovid Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 2,161 and 2,432 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ovid Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Ovid Township post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Ovid Township is more historic than 57% 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.
15% of Ovid Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1974.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the Library of Congress (1), 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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