College Corner was settled in 1811 and takes its name from its position in the northwestern corner of the "College Township", the survey township designated the previous year by the Ohio General Assembly as the site of the state college that became Miami University. This survey township was later organized as a civil township, Oxford Township. College Corner was laid out in 1837.
College Corner is an incorporated village. Oxford township, Butler county, is a college township, owned by Miami University. The first settlement at the village was in the northwest corner of that township, hence the name.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The villages of the township, which are scarcely more than “wide places in the pike,” are two in number, Fair Haven, in the north, and Morning Sun, in the center of the township. The town of College Corner, which is located in the extreme northwest comer of Oxford township, Butler county, and which takes its name from its location (Oxford township belonging to Miami University), has wandered across the state line into Indiana and has also crossed the county line into Israel township. But it must be reckoned with the Butler county towns; Israel township can not properly claim it.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
church at that place. Mr. McCracken labored for twenty years, during which time the congregation gradually increased, and although another swarm left the hive to form the Unity church at College Corner in the winter of 1849-50, and a very considerable number emigrated to the west, the church was as strong, numerically, at the close of the pastor’s labors, as it was at the beginning. He died September 10, 1859, loved and lamented
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.
By decade
College Corner, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of College Corner. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960College Corner sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of College Corner.
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.
Retake this viewWest-college-corner-indiana-from-above
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on College Corner’s page.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
Date?
2015
2015
2015
2004
