Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1914 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brown Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Brown 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: 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brown Township’s history is told.
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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brown 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 Brown Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Brown Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Brown Township is one of the twelve townships of Miami County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,585 people in the township.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,595 in 2010, 1,585 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Brown Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first settlement in Brown Township was made in 1806 by John Kiser, who was a Virginian. At first he located in the vicinity of Dayton, but leaving his first habitation after a brief sojourn, he moved northward till he entered the forests of Brown Township, where he concluded to build his cabin. His industry enabled him
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the year 1818 the Munsells were added to the population of Brown Township, then the Malloys came three years later. About the same time John Wolcott and Giles Johnson put up their cabins and Michael Sills exchanged his home in Champaign County for one in Brown Township. It was impossible at this late
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.
Nobody well known was born in Brown Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Brown Township is more historic than 60% 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.
33% of Brown Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (3), 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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