Cedarville dates to 1799, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #180 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Cedarville Opera House and the Harper Mausoleum and Harper, George W., Memorial Entrance. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1860.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1837.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cedarville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cedarville is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #180 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cedarville’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 Cedarville’s 4.9 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1799.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 points).
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 Cedarville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cedarville’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Cedarville, building by building, 1895–1910
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.
Cedarville was settled by Irish and Scottish immigrants in 1799. Cedarville was originally known as Milford, and under the latter name was platted in 1816. This was because of postal confusion with the city of Milford, Ohio. A post office called Massies Creek was established in 1837, and the name was changed to Cedarville in 1843. The present name is for cedar trees near the original town site.
For many years beginning in the 1880s, public life in Cedarville centered around the downtown Cedarville Opera House; it survives to the present day, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jane Kyle in the spring of 1842 he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in the immediate vicinity of Jamestown and there set up his home. In 1859 he traded that farm for another, but soon afterward sold this latter place and bought a farm on the edge of the village of Cedarville, where he lived until 1865, when he bought a fami of one hundred and thirty-seven acres on the Columbus-Cincinnati pike, a mile west of Cedarville. and moved onto the same. On December 4, 1872, his dwelling house there was destroyed by fire and he moved into Cedarville, where he became engaged in the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Andrew Winter was a practicing physician in the town of Cedarville from 1864 until his death in 1891, a period of thirty-seven years. Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on August 18, 1820, he grew to manhood in his native state, practiced medicine in Columbia, South Carolina, until 1861, but on the breaking out of the Civil War he immediately left the state and went to Tennessee where he joined the Union army and served until 1864, coming in the latter year to Cedarville where he made his home until his death. Such, in brief, is the main thread of the life history of Dr. Andrew Winter.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
be given in three different public places of an election of three trustees, a clerk and a treasurer to be held on the 21st day of December, 1850, in the town of Cedarville, at the house of John W. Walker. NEW JASPER TOWNSHIP.
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.
Timeline
Cedarville, 1799 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Cedarville’s post office has been open since 1843. Another post office, Massies Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Massies Creek
1837–1843
Cedarville
1843–today
18301930today
1cemetery inside Cedarville
Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Cedarville’s history
What year was Cedarville founded?
In 1799, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cedarville’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1860 counted 688 people here.
How does Cedarville rank for history?
Cedarville is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #180 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.
What is on the National Register in Cedarville?
Two places: the Cedarville Opera House (listed 1984) and the Harper Mausoleum and Harper, George W., Memorial Entrance (1988).
How old are the homes in Cedarville?
33% of Cedarville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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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