Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #257 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listings are the William Baumgardner House and Farm Buildings and the Staley Farm. Below: maps from 1904 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 83% 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 83% of U.S. towns, #257 of 993 in Ohio. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 31.0 sits above most of its state (84% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% 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.
Five 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 twelve townships of Miami County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 4,758 people in the township.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,843 in 2010, 4,758 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Bethel Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Pisgah Methodist Episcopal Church was also erected in Bethel Township in 1825 and was among the first churches built in the county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ley an University at Delaware. Flattering offers were made to him from educational institutions upon his return, and he taught one year in the Bethel Township High School and one year in the Covington High School and then returned to Bethel Township for one year as superintendent. Although he was re-elected to the same office
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.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Bethel Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Bethel Township is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #257 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.
Two places: the William Baumgardner House and Farm Buildings (listed 1978) and the Staley Farm (1980).
16% of Bethel Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1972.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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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