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History · Chardon Township

Chardon Township dates to 1812, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1985 on, and the census since 1830.

1812founded
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chardon Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chardon Township began

When was Chardon Township founded?

1812

Chardon Township dates its founding to 1812 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.

First census: 381 in 18302020 census: 4,494214 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1874.The full story ↓

What stands out about Chardon Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Chardon Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsEstablished in 1812: 214 years of Chardon Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chardon Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chardon Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGeauga County Fire of 1868: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Little Mountain, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Chardon CentreLittle MountainWilder Senior Citizen Mobile Home Park NorthWilder Senior Citizen Mobile Home Park South
Gone or out of use
Little Mountain Post Officepost officeMitchells Milllocale
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Chardon Township
All SoulsCenter ChardonKing StreetProtestant

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Chardon Township, 1812 to 1985

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1812
    FoundingChardon Township is established
  3. 1868In the archiveGeauga County Fire of 1868
  4. 1874Post officeThe Little Mountain post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Little Mountain post office closes
  7. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Chardon Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chardon Township.

Read it all →

Chardon is named after Peter Chardon Brooks, who donated land to build Chardon Square. Chardon Township celebrates its establishment in 1812, and thus the city of Chardon does the same. The city was incorporated as a village in 1851 and became a city in 2001 after its population passed 5,000 people in the 2000 United States census.

ChaptersSchool shooting

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Chardon Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item
Geauga County Fire of 18681868Geauga County Fire of 1868
Today2 recent
Mentor Cardinals - 78 Chardon Hilltoppers - 72012Mentor Cardinals - 78 Chardon Hilltoppers - 7Chardon Brew Works P70105312011Chardon Brew Works P7010531
On the map

Chardon Township on the map, 1985 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chardon Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Chardon Township on the 1985 USGS mapChardon Township on the 1994 USGS map1985Cleveland North sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chardon Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Geauga County Fire of 1868
Retake this viewGeauga County Fire of 1868, 1868

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Chardon Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Chardon Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,50018501900195020005,242

Grew from 381 people in 1830 to 5,242 in 2020, more than tenfold.

20 censuses, 1830–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chardon Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Chardon2 historic placesAKirtland4 historic placesB+Munson Township2 historic placesA−Concord TownshipIts storyCHambden TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Chardon Township’s history

What year was Chardon Township founded?

In 1812, according to Wikidata. Chardon Township’s post office opened in 1874, and the census of 1830 counted 381 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (3), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.