2 of Columbia Township’s places are on the National Register
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #650 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Columbia Town Hall and the Columbia Baptist Church. Most of Columbia Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1902 on.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Columbia Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #650 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Columbia Township’s overall grade.
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 Columbia Township’s 2.5 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
What stands out about Columbia Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Columbia Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1902Berea 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 Columbia Township.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Copopa, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Copopa
1824–1904
Columbia Station
1852–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Columbia CenterColumbia Hills CornersColumbia Station
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Columbia Township
Calvin Hoadley HistoricalColumbia Township
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Columbia Township was part of the former Connecticut Western Reserve, lands ceded in 1786 by Connecticut after the American Revolution. In 1805, two years after Ohio became a state, the federal government finalized treaties with local Native Americans. The reserve was surveyed and parceled into rough 5-mile-square (8.0 km) blocks (smaller than the typical 6-mile-square (9.7 km) townships in the midwestern United States). The Bronson and Hoadley families of Waterbury, Connecticut, pooled together $20,087 to purchase a township. On April 4, 1807, they drew Township 5 N, Range 15 W from a random selection of townships in the reserve, purchasing the land site-unseen. Since Columbia Township has been continuously inhabited since 1807, it is the longest inhabited settlement in the former Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga River.
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.
Columbia Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #650 of 993 in Ohio. 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.
What is on the National Register in Columbia Township?
Two places: the Columbia Town Hall (listed 1976) and the Columbia Baptist Church (1976).
How old are the homes in Columbia Township?
9% of Columbia Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 Wikimedia Commons (15), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
1973
1973
1973
1973
1973
2024
2022
2015
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2009
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