Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 60 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
Caldwell dates its founding to 1857 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Caldwell is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns. 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 Caldwell’s 396 sits above most of its state (98% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 66 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Caldwell’s history is told.
The 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.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Caldwell.
Caldwell was founded in 1857, and named after Joseph and Samuel Caldwell, the original owners of the town site. The Pennsylvania Railroad reached Caldwell in the 1870s, tying it to markets in the east and north along the Great Lakes.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Caldwell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
During the war the town of Caldwell made but little progress. Since that time its growth has been slow'but sure. Before the building of the railroad the only means of communication was by means of a hack line from Caldwell to Campbell’s Station on what is now the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The distance is twenty-two miles and the hack made but three trips a week. This hack carried the mails and on the days between its trips there was a mail from McConnelsville thus giving Caldwell a daily mail service. The first schoo] house in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
eleven and one-half acres, was laid off at that time, but none of the lots were offered for sale until the final disposition of the litigation to determine the location of the county seat. As soon as this suit was finally settled the town of Caldwell began fi> make progress. On June 10, 1857, the commission passed an order to erect a court house on the public square in the town of Caldwell, and fixed upon July 20 as the time for opening the bids therefor. Thomas Drake was employed as architect and on July 21, the bids having been
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About the time that the Marietta & Pittsburg railroad was completed to Caldwell, agitation, was started for the construction of a narrow gauge railroad from Zanesville to Caldwell, and ultimately to some point on the Ohio river. The agitation culminated in the incorporation of the Zanesville, Cumberland & Caldwell railroad company, but the project received but little support from the people of Noble county, owing to the fact that all their energies were at that time being exerted in behalf of the Marietta & Pittsburg road, which
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About the time that the Marietta & Pittsburg railroad was completed to Caldwell, agitation was started for the construction of a narrow gauge railroad from Zanesville to Caldwell, and ultimately to “some point on the Ohio river. The agitation culminated in the incorporation of the Zanesville, Cumberland & Caldwell railroad company, but the project received but little support from the people of Noble county, owing to the fact that all their energies were at that time being exerted in behalf of the Marietta & Pittsburg road, which
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.
Born hereMelvin Clark George is born here
In the archiveIllustrated atlas of Noble County, Ohio - published from actual surveys
In the archiveCaldwell, O. Methodist Church
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveRoxy Theater3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Caldwell. 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 Caldwell.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Caldwell’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 318 and 2,082 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Caldwell’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Caldwell’s post office has been open since 1859. Another post office, Olive, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1857, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Caldwell’s post office opened in 1822, and the census of 1870 counted 318 people here.
Caldwell is more historic than 84% 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.
Three places: the Samuel Caldwell House (listed 1980), the Noble County Jail and Sheriff's Office (2004) and the Caldwell Downtown Historic District (2020).
30% of Caldwell’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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