Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #479 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Daniel Hertzler House, the Olive Branch High School and the Pickaway Settlements Battlesite. Below: maps from 1904 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bethel Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #479 of 993 in Ohio. All 2 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 Bethel Township’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
Two 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bethel Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bethel 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 Bethel Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bethel Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bethel Township is one of the ten townships of Clark County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census reported 18,050 people living in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 18,523 to 18,050 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Bethel Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Bethel Township has three villages. The Rev. Archibald Steel settled on part of Section 19, Township 3, Range 9, in 1807; soon after built a grist-mill, which formed the nucleus of the town of Medway. It is situated on the Valley Pike, nearly midway between Dayton and Springfield.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the eastern part of Bethel Township, about four miles west of Springfield, on the Valley Pike, is the site of what was once a flourishing little town called New Boston: it was located mainly upon a “bench” of land, on the north side of Mad River, and occupied the identical spot upon which stood the old Indian town of Piqua. Boston was laid out by its proprietor, Henry Baily, in November, 1809; Jonathan Donnel was the surveyor; the inlots were five poles wide by ten poles in length; the out-lots were twenty-two by twenty-nine poles; the streets were four poles wide and the alleys one pole.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
north of the Israel Everhardt farm in Pleasant Township. At one time a mill was erected on the Crain farm in Section 33 in Bethel Township. Asa Rice erected a sawand grist-mill near Vienna in 1854. A tannery was erected by Robert Watkins on what is now the J. E. Bowman farm (formerly belonging to Israel Hol-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the history of Bethel Township will be found a list of the pioneers who were present at that meeting. General Keifer, a native of Bethel Township, introduced Senator Foraker. It was a beautiful day and the meeting was a decided success.
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.
BuiltDaniel Hertzler House is built
Born hereBertha Lamme is born here
BuiltOlive Branch High School is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe 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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Bethel Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #479 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.
Three places: the Daniel Hertzler House (listed 1978), the Olive Branch High School (2009) and the Pickaway Settlements Battlesite (1980).
15% of Bethel Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 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 (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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