Bainbridge’s post office opened in 1806, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Harris, Dr. John, Dental School. Its Register listing is the Harris, Dr. John, Dental School. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1820.
Peaked at 1,057 in 1970; 765 people lived here in 2020.
20 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bainbridge’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Bainbridge on the map, 1915 to 1974
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bainbridge. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1915Bainbridge sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bainbridge.
The story so far
Bainbridge, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bainbridge yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bainbridge is a village in Ross County, Ohio, United States, along Paint Creek. The population was 765 at the 2020 census. Bainbridge is the location of Pike Lake State Park.
Its first post office opened in 1806. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 860 to 765 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Bainbridge in 1917
Passages that mention Bainbridge, cut from the printed page as they were published.
a standard history of ross county ohio1917 · page 785Read the page →
Read the text
and prominent family connection in Highland County. Mr. Gossett is now giving his active superintendence to his fine farm of 120 acres, situated in Paxton Township, on the Cincinnati Pike, 314 miles west of Bainbridge. His daily mail service comes over route No. 2 out of Bainbridge. Accustomed from youth up to the business of farming, Mr. Gossett has found prosperity in that line, and his home place, known as Cool Springs Farm, is without question one of the best in point of improvement and fertility in Paxton Township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
a standard history of ross county ohio1917 · page 880Read the page →
Read the text
His son, William Dill, inherited and purchased that portion of this land west of his brother, Robert, and later purchased from Walter, his share of his father’s estate. He was married, March 6, 1850, to Mary W. Kelly, a native of Bainbridge, Ohio. Her father, Elisha Kelly, was one of the first settlers in Bainbridge, and one of the first officers of the township. He was a blacksmith by trade and at that time an important industry as a great many things in the iron business were hammered out on the anvil, and he employed as many as eight to ten men at his
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
Bainbridge, 1806 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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