The Castalia post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Margaretta (1826), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 774183 years
Founding year: the first Castalia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Castalia’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
By 1738 there was a Wyandot settlement at what is now Castalia under the leadership of Nicholas Orontony. Due to growing disputes with the French and closer trade relations with Pennsylvania-based merchants, the Wyandot burned their village and relocated to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in what is today Cleveland in 1748.
Castalia was laid out in 1836. The village was named after Castalia, a figure in Greek mythology.
Passages that mention Castalia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1889Read the page →
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Castalia was laid out in 1836, at the head of Cold Creek, by Davidson, Hadley & Co., and for twenty years had a slow growth, after which it has retrograded until now it has but a small business, and in 1887 a fire destroyed several buildings and cast a gloom over its inhabitants. It has a railway station on the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, also the C. S. and C. R. R.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Castalia was laid out in 1836, at the head of Cold Creek, by Davidson, Hadley & Co., and for twenty years had a slow, growth, after which it has retrograded until now it has but a sniall business, and in 1887 a fire destroyed several buildings and cast a gloom over its inhabitants. It has a railway station on the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, also the C. S. and C. R. R.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1889Read the page →
Read the text
The roads are fine, the air clear, and six miles seem as nought. The little village of Castalia comes in sight, with ornate school building and rustic church and simple homes. The bubbling springs from beneath form a pond of no mean size, and like a miniature lake lie the headwaters of the stream that originally flowed across a bit of prairie, but was diverted into an artificial channel or mill-race, when the first mill was built.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The roads are fine, the air clear, and six miles seem as nought. The little village of Castalia comes in sight, with ornate school building and rustic church and simple homes. The bubbling springs from beneath form a pond of no mean size, and like a miniature lake lie the headwaters of the stream that originally flowed across a bit of prairie, but was diverted into an artificial channel or mill-race, when the first mill was built.
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.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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