Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #730 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Samuel Spitler House. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1880.
Brookville dates its founding to 1850 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brookville is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #730 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Brookville’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Brookville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brookville. 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 Brookville.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Brookville.
Brookville had its first pioneers around 1814. Brookville was platted in 1850, and named for a small brook near the town site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Brookville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the house and the first teacher of the township was a German, by name Jol: Holsmiller. Not long after the erection of this house, was built another Section 26 on the Michael Baker land, about one mile northeast of the prese village of Brookville. A few years later, another house was built near t. center of Section 34. This was probably about the year 1820. All of the, houses were built on the same plan, which did not differ from the usually ru log schoolhouse of pioneer times, full descriptions of which will be found els where in this work. In these schools were taught no German, nor geograph
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Brookville was surveyed April 13, 1850, by Jacob Frees, for -Jacob Flory, priotor of the fifteen lots. The town was incorporated September 9, 1874. COUNTY INFIRMARY.
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.
Grew from 574 people in 1880 to 5,989 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brookville’s Wikipedia page.
Brookville’s post office has been open since 1856.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1850, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Brookville’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1880 counted 574 people here.
Brookville is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #730 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.
One place: the Samuel Spitler House (listed 1973).
10% of Brookville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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