Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1890.
The Creston post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Jackson (1828), Old Hickory (1836) and Pike Station (1865), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Creston is more historic than 46% 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 Creston’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 Creston’s history is told.
Creston’s post office has been open since 1881. Three 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 Creston. 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 Creston.
From Wikipedia’s history of Creston.
Creston had its start in the 1860s when the railroad was extended to that point . An old variant name was Pike Station. A post office called Pike Station was established in 1865, and the name was changed to Creston in 1881.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Creston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
This was formerly known and platted in 1865 as Saville, but when the railway company established a town by that name elsewhere — over the county line — this place was, for a time, called Pike Station, it being situated on the old Cleveland pike road. But in 1881 it was changed to Creston. It is situated in Canaan township, near the north line of Wayne county, and now has a population of about twelve hundred. It has the following transportation line.7 : 'the Wheeling & Lake Erie line : the Erie. Baltimore & Ohio line and the Cleveland and Southwestern, \vhich is the electric interiuban
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Methodism in this immediate section began its work at Jackson at a very early date — about 1850. In 1863 the old frame church at Jackson was moved to Creston and stood on the site of the present church. The old building served until 1884, when the present brick church was erected at a cost of eight thousand dollars. It is sixty-one by sixty feet, to which has been added during the last year parlor and Sunday school room thirty by thirty feet that cost two thousand dollars.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1900Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 584 and 2,171 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Creston’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Creston post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Creston is more historic than 46% 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.
27% of Creston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
2022
2016
2016
2016
2016