Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1904 on and old-book passages.
The Chatham Township post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Chatham Center (1837), Pawnee (1879) and Risley (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chatham Township is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Chatham Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chatham Township’s history is told.
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chatham 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 Chatham Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Chatham Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Chatham Township is one of the seventeen townships of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 2,213 people in the township.
Its first post office opened in 1895. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,265 to 2,213 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Chatham Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Out of this little romance grew the first marriage in Chatham Township. The wedding ceremonies took place at the Parsons home on a July day. Erastus Parsons, a brother of the bride, was dispatched to the Sullivan settlement, in Huron County, fourteen miles distant.
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 hereCarl S. Williams is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Chatham Township post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Chatham Township is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. 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.
11% of Chatham Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
