More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #811 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Calcutta was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1937 on and the census since 1980.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1815.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Calcutta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Calcutta is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #811 of 993 in Ohio. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Calcutta’s overall grade.
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 Calcutta’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1810.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size.
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 →
What stands out about Calcutta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first permanent settlement in the area was in 1792 or 1793 by hunter John Quinn. Calcutta was laid out in 1810 as West Union. It had also been called Foulkstown after William Foulks, who built the first brick house there, as well as Nineveh, after the Biblical city of the same name. It was ultimately renamed after the Indian city of Kolkata, formerly anglicized as Calcutta. A post office called Calcutta was established in 1838 and remained in operation until 1913.
William Holmes McGuffey, a college professor who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers textbooks, established his first subscription school in Calcutta in 1814, where he was an instructor to 48 students.
Passages that mention Calcutta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Columbiana county, Ohio1879 · page 231Read the page →
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Miss Rebecca Quigley, aged eighty, and living in Calcutta, settled there, with her father, in 1813, when, she says, the village contained but six log cabins. Her father, Samuel Quigley, opened the first store in Calcutta, and kept his goods in a log cabin. After that, one James Hambel, a carpenter, put up a one-story frame shop in the village.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Columbiana county, Ohio1879 · page 232Read the page →
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In the early days Calcutta was known as Nineveh, — a name said to have been applied to it John McLaughlin because of its supposed wickedness, — but the name it now bears was subsequently given to it as less suggestive, and in remembrance of Calcutta in India, but why the latter appellation was given is not precisely clear. Calcutta was also known at one time as Foulkstown, in honor of William Foulks, an early settler, who built the first brick house
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History of Columbiana County, Ohio1905 · page 134Read the page →
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15, St. Clair township, in the valley of Hazel Creek, a tributary of the Little Beaver, about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Calcutta. It was in operation about 18 months, using the kidney and black ores obtained in the neighborhood. Charcoal and bituminous coal were used for fuel. W. S. Potts says in a contribution to the “History of the Upper
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History of Columbiana County, Ohio1905 · page 310Read the page →
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years, and William H. McGuffey — later the well-known author of McGuffey’s readers and spelling-books— taught in a frame building in Calcutta. Still later Joseph Hoy taught in a log schoolhouse near the site in later years occupied by the Calcutta schoolhouse. Before the close of the century seven school districts had been established in the township, viz :
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.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
In 1810, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Calcutta’s post office opened in 1815, and the census of 1980 counted 1,121 people here.
How does Calcutta rank for history?
Calcutta is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #811 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.
How old are the homes in Calcutta?
3% of Calcutta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
