Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the First Congregational Church of Otto. Below: maps from 1923 on and the census since 1830.
The Otto post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Otto’s history is told.
Peaked at 2,267 in 1850; 775 people lived here in 2020.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Otto’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereEdwin Willits is born here
Born hereAnna Botsford Comstock is born here
Born hereMark Vernon Slingerland is born here
Born hereGlenn Washington Herrick is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Otto.
The area of the town was first settled around 1816. The town of Otto was formed in 1823 from part of the town of Perrysburg. Otto returned territory to Perrysburg in 1823 and ceded land to Ashford in 1835. In 1854, the eastern half of the town was spun off and renamed East Otto.
The Medora Ball Historical Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Otto, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Hoosic Falls, where he remained until the spring of 1852, when he came to Dayton and commenced to work for Barzillai Merrill. He worked for him for five months during which time he helped to raise the first shingle mill at South Dayton. He then went to Otto, hiring out to James M. Barber, remaining but a short time and from there going to Illinois, returning to Otto in 1853, where he worked on a farm. In the spring of J 854 he returned to South Dayton, finding employment with Isaac PhilHps of Villenova. From 1855 to 1859 he worked in Persia and Otto, removing in the spring of 1859 to 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Otto. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Otto.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Otto’s post office has been open since 1826.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Otto post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the First Congregational Church of Otto (listed 1999).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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