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History · Chilo

Chilo’s post office opened in 1823, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1931 on and the census since 1860.

1823first post office
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Chilo began

When was Chilo founded?

1823

The Chilo post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mechanicsburg (1819), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 147 in 18602020 census: 71203 years
Founding year: the first Chilo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Chilo’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Chilo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 200 in 1880; 71 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Chilo’s homes were built before 1953.Deep rootsA post office since 1823: 203 years of Chilo.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chilo’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Chilo, census by census

0100200190019502000Peak: 200

Peaked at 200 in 1880; 71 people lived here in 2020.

9 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

The story

How Chilo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chilo.

Read it all →

Chilo was originally called Mechanicsburgh, and under the latter name was platted in 1816. A post office called Mechanicsburg was established in 1819. The village's name was changed to Chilo in 1820 by an act of the Ohio Legislature. By the 1830s, was home of boat building businesses, which swelled the population to several hundred. Chilo had more than thirty houses and two stores. The town was the site of Lock #34 on the Ohio River up until the 1960s, when nearby Meldahl Dam was built. The original lock building is home to the Ohio River Museum, operated by the Clermont County Parks Department.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chilo, 1819 to 1931

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1819Post officeThe Mechanicsburg post office opens
  3. 1823Post officeThe Mechanicsburg post office closes
  4. 1823Post officeThe Chilo post office opens
  5. 1876Born hereSam Woodruff is born here
  6. 1880CensusPopulation peaks at 200
  7. 20th century
  8. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Chilo, decade by decade

Today10 recent
Map of Clermont County Ohio Highlighting Chilo Village2015Map of Clermont County Ohio Highlighting Chilo VillageMapChiloOH72013ChiloOH7ChiloOH62013ChiloOH6ChiloOH52013ChiloOH5ChiloOH42013ChiloOH4ChiloOH32013ChiloOH3ChiloOH22013ChiloOH2ChiloOH12013ChiloOH1Chilo, Ohio2012Chilo, OhioOHMap-doton-Chilo2004OHMap-doton-Chilo
On the map

Chilo on the map, 1931 to 1981

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

Chilo on the 1931 USGS mapChilo on the 1953 USGS mapChilo on the 1968 USGS mapChilo on the 1974 USGS mapChilo on the 1981 USGS map1931Felicity sheet · 1:62,500

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Chilo’s post office has been open since 1823. Another post office, Mechanicsburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Mechanicsburg
1819–1823
Chilo
1823–today
18101920today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Franklin TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Chilo’s history

What year was Chilo founded?

The Chilo post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (10), 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) 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.