Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Big Island Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: maps from 1961 on and old-book passages.
The Big Island Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Big Island (1829), Longville (1873) and Gurleys Station (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Big Island Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Big Island Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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.
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 Big Island Township’s history is told.
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 SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Big Island Township.
A post office called Big Island was established in 1829, and remained in operation until 1870. The community takes its name from Big Island Township. Besides the post office, Big Island had a hotel and several shops.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Big Island Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
promising appearance than Claridon, but the wisdom of the selection has since been proven, as the division of the territory since made has placed it nearer the center of the county, besides other natural advantages. It is said that the settlement in Big Island Township maintained that the site where the village of Big Island now stands was the most suitable place, and made strenuous efforts to secure the location of the county seat at that place. Even for many years after its location at Marion, and yet after the town of Big Island was laid out in the year 1828, the people at that point
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
promising appearance than Claridon, but the wisdom of the selection has since been proven, as the division of the territory since made has placed it nearer the center of the county, besides other natural advantages. It is said that the settlement in Big Island Township maintained that the site where the village of Big Island now stands was the most suitable place, and made strenuous efforts to secure the location of the county seat at that place. Even for many years after its location at Marion, and yet after the town of Big Island was laid out in the year 1828, the people at that point
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ordered, lhat the south tier of sections now belonging to Big Island Township and one-half mile on the west side of Township 6, Range 15 south, be and the same is hereby set off to Green Camp Township; and that the east half of Sections 6. 7 and 18 in said township above described be and the same is hereby set off to Pleasant Township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in 1835, stopping in Big Island Township one year, thence he moved to Montgomery Township, purchasing land, which amounted in time to 1,000 acres. He was largoly identified with the building up of the thriving village of La Rue. He owned at one time a grist mill, a saw mill and a carding mill here. He was an industrious and enterprising citizen, and was so generally interested in the growth of La Rue that as long as the village stands, so long will his name be remembered. His death took place in 1869, leaving a family of three children, four others having died. The
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Big Island 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 Big Island Township.
Nobody well known was born in Big Island Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Big Island Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Big Island Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. 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.
8% of Big Island Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 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 Wikipedia, 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.
