Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #22 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 115 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
Chagrin Falls dates its founding to 1837 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chagrin Falls is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #22 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Chagrin Falls’ 286 sits above most of its state (97% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 120 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chagrin Falls. 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.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chagrin Falls.
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.
Passages that mention Chagrin Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
But it was not until the year 1826 or 1827 that any settlement was made in the vicinity of the present village of Chagrin Falls. At that time John Woodward and Benjamin Carpenter built a dam across the Chagrin river, below Williams' foundry at Chagrin Falls, and at the north end of it erected a small log gristmill. The stones were drawn by eight yoke of cattle from a still older mill, situated near where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
But it was not u'ntil the year 1S2G or 1827 that any settlement was made in the vicinity of the present village of Chagrin Falls. At that time John Woodward and Benjamin Carpenter built a dam across the Chagrin river, below Williams" foundry at Chagrin Falls, and at the north end of it erected a small log gristmill. The stones were drawn by eight yoke of cattle from a still older mill, situated near where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Thus gently, but prosperouslj', passed the time, until, in April, 1861, the guns of Sumter called the nation to arms. The people of Chagrin Falls had watched the course of events with even more than the ordinary solicitude of the loyal North. Their proclivity for reading and discussion had kept them wide awake on the subject, and when the tocsin sounded there was probably not a village nor a township of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
war of 181-2, Serenus Burnet brought his wife and little son, Stephen, and located himself on the west side of Chagrin river, about two miles north of the present village of Chagrin Falls. There he built a rude log-house, and became the first resident of the [H-esent township of Chagrin Falls. The nearest neighbors '<vere in the Covert neighborhood, near Willson's Mills, in the present township of Mayfield.
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 hereAddie L. Ballou is born here
In the archiveDam at Adams Bag Co
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)
Born hereLisa Banes is born here4 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’ 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’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Chagrin Falls’s post office has been open since 1839.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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’ post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1870 counted 1,016 people here.
Chagrin Falls is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #22 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.
7 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Chagrin Falls Township Hall (listed 1974, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Chagrin Falls West Side District, the Chagrin Falls Triangle Park Commercial District and the Chagrin Falls East Side Historic District, with 115 contributing buildings. 120 historic buildings in all.
40% of Chagrin Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
1890
1915
