Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Cottages at Central Point. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1903 on, and the census since 1820.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Three 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Wayne.
The region was first settled by Europeans circa 1791 by Abraham Hendricks, and it was organized as the "Town of Frederickstown" on May 18, 1796, when the County of Steuben was formed from a part of the larger Ontario County. Early settlers include Ephriam Sanford, Anthony Swarthout, Jabez Hopkins, and Joseph Bailey.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wayne, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Wayne Township At first view, the history of Wayne township seems inseparable from that of the village, town and city of Fort Wayne. Upon reflection, however, the annalist is reminded that settlement far outside of even Fort Wayne's present limits was begim before the village was incorporated, so that it would be impossible to maintain that the rural settlement was wholly subsequent to, or dependent upon, the village at the fort. Sparse indeed was the rural popu-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Wayne's great victory was hailed with joy wherever the news reached the American settlements and cities. "Anthony Wayne," says Rufus King, "opened 'the glorious gates of the Ohio' to the tide of civilization so long shut off from its hills and valleys."
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereFrancis Kernan is born here
In the archiveWayne Village (Village); Wayne Business Notices.; Wayne (Township)
In the archiveAisleOfPines
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wayne. 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 Wayne.
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 Wayne’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 516 and 3,607 people in every census since 1820.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wayne’s Wikipedia page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wayne’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
One place: the Cottages at Central Point (listed 2011).
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 (5), 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.
1874
c. 1900
Date?