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722 farmstead toward Byers RoadPhoto: Nyttend · Public domain
BHistory
History · Butler Township

38% of Butler Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1960 on.

0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
From Butler Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Butler Township’s history

How historic is Butler Township?

B

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Butler Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Butler Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Butler Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 64%
NewerOlder

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 Butler 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.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.1 points).

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 →

What stands out about Butler Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Sampson
1850–1858
Beech Grove
1852–1853
Bruss
1883–1885
Tecumseh
1885–1897
Carter
1893–1894
Savona
1897–1933
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BeechgroveHewittOtterbeinSavona
Gone or out of use
Beech Grove Post Officepost officeHolsapple SchoolschoolSampson Post Officepost officeSavona Post Officepost office
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Butler Township
Beech GroveFoutzHarterNew CastineOld CastineOtterbeinWilt

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

Help out

Start Butler Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story so far

Butler Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Butler Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Butler Township is one of the twenty townships of Darke County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,455 people in the township.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,535 to 1,455 (-5%).

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

Timeline

Butler Township, 1850 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Sampson post office opens
  3. 1852Post officeThe Beech Grove post office opens
  4. 1853Post officeThe Beech Grove post office closes
  5. 1858Post officeThe Sampson post office closes
  6. 1883Post officeThe Bruss post office opens
  7. 1885Post officeThe Bruss post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Butler Township, decade by decade

On the map

Butler Township on the map, 1960 to 1973

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

Butler Township on the 1960 USGS mapButler Township on the 1973 USGS map1960New Madison sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Butler Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

"Blue Shutters" Residence, Route 25, Olde West Chester
Retake this view"Blue Shutters" Residence, Route 25, Olde West Chester

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Butler Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Butler Township

Nobody well known was born in Butler Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Butler Township’s history

How does Butler Township rank for history?

Butler Township is more historic than 64% 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.

How old are the homes in Butler Township?

38% of Butler Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1953.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (1), 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.