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History · Brown Township

18% of Brown Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Hope Furnace and the Moonville Tunnel. Below: maps from 1904 on.

2on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Brown Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Brown Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Brown Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19044 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1992. Watch Brown Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Brown Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brown Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

New Plymouth
1850–today
Big Sand Furnace
1858–1863
Hope Furnace
1865–1890
Golf
1902–1904
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HopeNew Plymouth
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brown Township
FeeKeeton

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Brown Township on the map, 1904 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brown Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Brown Township on the 1904 USGS mapBrown Township on the 1961 USGS mapBrown Township on the 1975 USGS mapBrown Township on the 1992 USGS map1904Zaleski sheet · 1:62,500

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.

The story so far

Brown Township, in brief

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 Vinton County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 255 people in the township.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 293 to 255 (-13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Brown Township, 1850 to 1904

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe New Plymouth post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe Big Sand Furnace post office opens
  4. 1863Post officeThe Big Sand Furnace post office closes
  5. 1865Post officeThe Hope Furnace post office opens
  6. 1890Post officeThe Hope Furnace post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Brown Township, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Map of Vinton County Ohio Highlighting Brown Township2015Map of Vinton County Ohio Highlighting Brown TownshipMapOHMap-doton-Ingham2007OHMap-doton-Ingham
On the National Register

2 historic places in Brown Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Hope Furnace
Hope FurnaceMoonville Tunnel
Structures
Hope FurnaceStructure
All 2 listings
Moonville TunnelStructure · listed 2021

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Swan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStarr TownshipIts storyC+Waterloo TownshipIts storyC−Knox TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Brown Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Brown Township?

Two places: the Hope Furnace (listed 1973) and the Moonville Tunnel (2021).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.