Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Joseph Kirkwood House. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1830.
The Bridgeport post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Poorman (1882) and West Wheeling (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bridgeport is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 3 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 Bridgeport’s 20.6 sits above most of its state (81% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bridgeport’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Bridgeport’s post office has been open since 1820. 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Bridgeport.
Bridgeport was originally known as Canton, and under the latter name was laid out in 1806 by Colonel Ebenezer Zane. The present name is for a bridge constructed near the town site in the 1810s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bridgeport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
FRED NEININGER, mayor of the city of Bridgeport, has led a wonderfully active life in business affairs all over his township and countv. He is engaged in the butcher business in Bridgeport, being the oldest in that business in town, and is a stockholder in the Hide & Tallow Association, and in the Union Opera House of Bridgeport, Ohio.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tor line that will traverse the line of the National Road through the entire length of the county and beyond, is in course of construction from Bridgeport westward, and the line is at present in operation to the foot of the “big hill,” five miles from Bridgeport, where a halt has been called to determine the course to pursue in reaching St. Clairsville.
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.
Born hereJoseph Henry Sharp is born here
Born hereBill White is born here
In the archiveE.W. Reid's Nurseries materials
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMilitia on guard, "Etna [i.e., Aetna] Standard Sheet Mill," Bridgeport, Ohio
In the archiveHistoric National Road - Old Bridge at Bridgeport on Historic National Road3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bridgeport. 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 Bridgeport.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bridgeport’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Peaked at 4,853 in 1940; 1,582 people lived here in 2020.
19 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bridgeport’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Bridgeport post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bridgeport is more historic than 93% 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.
One place: the Joseph Kirkwood House (listed 1986).
43% of Bridgeport’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 1946.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
![Arrival of militia, "Etna [i.e., Aetna] Standard Sheet Plant," Bridgeport, Ohio](https://images.townratings.com/story/13282/666a35510cab8c62429f-s.jpg)
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