Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #528 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Ballville Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Its Register listing is the Mull Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1901 on and old-book passages.
Ballville Township dates its founding to 1840 (Wikipedia’s history).
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ballville Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #528 of 993 in Ohio. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Ballville Township’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (51% 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 Ballville Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ballville Township. 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 Ballville Township.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltMull Covered Bridge is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Ballville Township.
Ballville was laid out around 1840. The community was named after Colonel Ball, a local Indian fighter.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ballville Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Among the earlier county roads was one west from James Moore’s mill on the Sandusky Zoo River in Ballville Township, by way of the present village of Millersville and Greensburg to the west line of the county, a distance of about fifteen miles. The greater portion of this road, for more than half the year round,
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Ballville Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1840, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town.
Ballville Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #528 of 993 in Ohio. 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 Mull Covered Bridge (listed 1974).
8% of Ballville Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
