The story
Read it all →How Berlin Heights came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Berlin Heights.
In the late 1850s a branch of the "free love" movement was established in Berlin Heights.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Berlin Heights
Berlin Heights’ post office opened in 1854, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1903 on, and the census since 1880.
1854first post office
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
5famous people
Quick answers
How Berlin Heights began
When was Berlin Heights founded?
1854
The Berlin Heights post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 424 in 18802020 census: 651172 years
Founding year: the first Berlin Heights post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Berlin Heights’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Berlin Heights’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Berlin Heights’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Berlin Heights on the map, 1903 to 1979
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Berlin Heights. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1903Vermilion sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Berlin Heights.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Berlin Heights, 1889–1916
Passages that mention Berlin Heights, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Erie County Ohio,1889 · page 451Read the page →
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Berlin Heights has a wide reputation, and had it been directly on the line of the railroad would have grown much more rapidly than it has done. It has several stores, several manufactories, a saw-mill, a grist-mill, a fine schoolbuilding with graded school, three churches and a hotel.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
a standard history of erie county, ohio1916 · page 77Read the page →
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Berlin Heights has had a wide reputation, but its growth has been hampered by not having railroad facilities. It has several stores, several factories, a sawmill, a grist mill, a fine school building with graded school, three churches and a hotel.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A standard history of Erie County, Ohio1916 · page 616Read the page →
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After his marriage Mr. Romell bought his first farm, comprising forty acres, in the vicinity of Castalia, but some years afterward bought another place in Huron County, and conducted it until 1891. He then came to the Village of Berlin Heights and for five years was well known to that community as proprietor of a popular hotel. In 1896 he bought thirty-four acres half a mile east of the village, and still owns that farm,
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History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1889Read the page →
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Ceylon on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad is directly north of Berlin Heights, and grew to its present size in an incredibly short time. It has two stores, two saloons, a hotel, a post-office and a sawmill. There are six cemeteries in the township, one of which is being washed away by the united force of Chapelle Creek and the lake. The others are at Berlinville, Berlin Heights and Harpen’s Corners.
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
Berlin Heights, 1836 to 1907
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1836
Born hereHudson Tuttle is born here - 1854Post officeThe Berlin Heights post office opens
- 1861
Born herePaul Drennan Cravath is born here - 1869Born hereTracy W. McGregor is born here
- 1870
Born hereMartin Ittner is born here - 20th century
- 1903
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1907
In the archiveTuttle home, Walnut Grove Farm, Berlin Heights, Ohio (A golden sheaf, 1907)
By decade
Berlin Heights, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumDate unknown1 to date
![North Dakota [Traill County (part) - Williams County] -- Ohio [Adams County - Erie County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/13314/238693c8058912beba26-s.jpg)
Date?
2015
2004Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewTuttle home, Walnut Grove Farm, Berlin Heights, Ohio (A golden sheaf, 1907), 1907
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Berlin Heights’ page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Berlin Heights, census by census
Between 424 and 828 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Berlin Heights’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →5 famous people were born in Berlin Heights
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Old burying grounds
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Berlin Heights
Berlin Heights BaptistRiversideWest End
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Berlin Heights’ history
What year was Berlin Heights founded?
The Berlin Heights post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 (4), Wikidata (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.