Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Antwerp Norfolk and Western Depot. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1870.
Antwerp dates its founding to 1841 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Antwerp is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Antwerp’s 5.2 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Antwerp’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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 hereJohn S. Snook is born here
BuiltAntwerp Norfolk and Western Depot is built
In the archiveAntwerp, OH - Sep. 13, 1907
In the archivePC090016 Civil War Veterans 1917 Photo by Otto E Erhart
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Antwerp.
Antwerp is located in the former wetland region known until the 19th century as the Great Black Swamp. Antwerp was founded in 1841 on the Wabash and Erie canal and the center of town moved to its present location when the railroad was extended to that point. The village was named after Antwerp, in Belgium.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Antwerp. 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 Antwerp.
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 Antwerp’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 717 and 1,765 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Antwerp’s Wikipedia page.
Antwerp’s post office has been open since 1842. Another post office, Pauldingville, 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).
In 1841, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Antwerp’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1870 counted 717 people here.
Antwerp is more historic than 81% 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.
One place: the Antwerp Norfolk and Western Depot (listed 1980).
23% of Antwerp’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 Wikimedia Commons (8), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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