Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #529 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: maps from 1916 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Darby Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #529 of 993 in Ohio. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Darby Township’s 2.3 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Darby Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Darby Township. 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 Darby Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Darby Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Darby Township is one of the fourteen townships of Madison County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 4,261 people in the township.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,226 in 2010, 4,261 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Darby Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
bring back salt, glass ware and other necessaries. In this way he was a useful man and a benefit to the community. Prior to the erection of Madison County, and when its territory formed one township of Franklin County, we find that Osborn was Collector of Taxes for Darby Township. At a session of the Associate Judges of Franklin County held January 7, 1804, the following record appears : " Usual Osborn having given bond with approved security for the collection of the county tax in Darby Township, it is ordered that he be appointed Collector of the same." After his
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to Ohio and located on Trickle's Creek, in Champaign County. He remained there one year, and in 1818 came to Darby Township, Madison County, and laid out the town of Westminster. This name was afterward changed to that of Pleasant Valley, but in 1872, after his death, the citizens petitioned their Representative in the Legislature — William Morrow Beach — for an act tochange the name to Plain City. It was done. The reason therefor was the fact that there were four or five towns in Ohio by the name of Pleasant Valley, and perishable merchandise, shipped by railroad, was
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 SurveyThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Darby Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Kileville, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Darby Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #529 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.
15% of Darby Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1999.
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 (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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