Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.08 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1870.
Chagrin Falls Township dates its founding to 1837 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chagrin Falls Township. 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 Chagrin Falls Township.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chagrin Falls Township.
Chagrin Falls was laid out in 1837. The community takes its name from a series of waterfalls along the Chagrin River, which runs through the town. The village was incorporated in 1844 from parts of three townships in two counties.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveDam at Adams Bag Co., Chagrin Falls, Ohio
In the archiveUpper Paper Millls, Chagrin Falls, O
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveJohn Németh - Csizmadia Károly levél
In the archiveEarly American room, Crane's Canary Cottage, Chagrin Falls Village, Ohio (NBY 10571)4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Chagrin Falls Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,016 and 4,848 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chagrin Falls Township’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1837, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Chagrin Falls Township’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1870 counted 1,016 people here.
8 listings: 1 structure. 120 historic buildings in all.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1890
1915