Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1850.
The Clifton post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1840.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Clifton.
As early as 1827, the area was referred to as Patterson's Mills. Clifton was platted in 1840, and named for the nearby cliffs on the Little Miami River. A post office called Clifton has been in operation since 1832.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 310 in 1880; 131 people lived here in 2020.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clifton’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clifton. 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 Clifton.
Passages that mention Clifton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
H. White received excellent schooling there and remained until he was twentyone years of age, when he took a trip West, spending a year at Camden, Arkansas. At that time his brother, the Rev. W. G. White, was engaged in the ministry of the Presbyterian church at Clifton, in this county, and upon his return from the West he stopped at Clifton for the purpose of making a brief visit to his brother. So favorably impressed did he become with the outlook here, however, that he determined to make this his permanent home, readily coming to the conclusion that the attractive village of Clifton
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
From the very beginning of things at Clifton, the name Lewis has been associated with the place, for it was Bennett Lewis, father of the subject of this biographical review, who laid out the townsite, the same covering a part of the considerable tract of land he had purchased there upon coming to Greene county in 1828, and the farm on which Addison Storrs Lewis is still living, just at the edge of Clifton, is a part of that original tract.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lewis, Bennett. Miami, 18,30: one of the original proprietors of Clifton. Ohio, in 1833; born in 1803; died October 21, 1876. aged seventy-four; buried in Clifton. Ohio.
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 hereIsaac K. Funk is born here
In the archiveFMIB 33192 Clifton, Ohio; Frame Dam
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereWoody Hayes is born here
In the archiveSamuel Hills Taft House, 3329 Morrison Avenue, Clifton, Ohio. Fountain2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1922Samuel Hills Taft House, 3329 Morrison Avenue, Clifto…
1922Samuel Hills Taft House, 3329 Morrison Avenue, Clifto…
1922Samuel Hills Taft house, 3329 Morrison Avenue, Clifto…
1922Samuel Hills Taft House, 3329 Morrison Avenue
1922Samuel Hills Taft House, 3329 Morrison Avenue
1922Samuel Hills Taft house, 3329 Morrison Avenue
2019Mister America marquee
2016Water and Main
2016Historical Clifton 02
2016Historical Clifton 01
2016Clifton post office 45316
2016Clifton opera house, North and Clay
2016Clifton Union School
2015Map of Greene County Ohio Highlighting Clifton VillageMap
2015Map of Clark County Ohio Highlighting Clifton VillageMap
2014Historical Clifton 04
2014Historical Clifton 03
2011Clouds near
2010Clifton Ohio, December 2010
2008Detailed map ofMap
2005Clifton Mill Christmas 2005
2004OHMap-doton-CliftonNo 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 Clifton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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.
The Clifton post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1840.
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 (21), the Library of Congress (3), 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 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.
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