Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Dorset Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Dorset Township

Dorset Township’s post office opened in 1848, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1905 on.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dorset Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dorset Township began

When was Dorset Township founded?

1848

The Dorset Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Millsford (1826) and Greenwood (1837), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 807178 years
Founding year: the first Dorset Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Dorset Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dorset Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of Dorset Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Millsford
1826–1837
Greenwood
1837–1848
Dorset
1848–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Dorset
Gone or out of use
Dorset Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Dorset Township
Dorset

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Dorset Township, 1826 to 1905

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1826Post officeThe Millsford post office opens
  3. 1837Post officeThe Millsford post office closes
  4. 1837Post officeThe Greenwood post office opens
  5. 1848Post officeThe Greenwood post office closes
  6. 1848Post officeThe Dorset post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1905In the archiveAnother store in Dorset Ohio
The story so far

Dorset Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dorset Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Dorset is an unincorporated community in central Dorset Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It has a post office with the ZIP code 44032. It lies along State Route 193. Dorset was originally named Millsford, and under the latter name was founded in 1828. The present name is after Dorset, Vermont, the native home of an early settler. John Brown Junior, son of John Brown the abolitionist, lived in Dorset from approximately 1855 to 1885.

Its first post office opened in 1848. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 846 to 807 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Dorset Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s6 items
Another store in Dorset Ohio1905Another store in Dorset OhioChruch in Dorset Ohio1905Chruch in Dorset OhioEarly car, photo taken in Dorset Ohio1905Early car, photo taken in Dorset OhioHistoric buildings in Dorset Ohio. Unsure of location1905Historic buildings in Dorset Ohio. Unsure of locationHistoric photo of some homes in Dorset Ohio1905Historic photo of some homes in Dorset OhioHome and barn in photo located to the left of the Dorset school in Dorset Ohio1905Home and barn in photo located to the left of the Dor…
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
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.

Another store in Dorset Ohio
Retake this viewAnother store in Dorset Ohio, 1905

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dorset Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Dorset Township

Nobody well known was born in Dorset Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Frank E. WoodsAmerican screenwriter · b. 1860
G
George PakeAmerican physicist · b. 1924
Marcus E. JonesAmerican geologist and botanist · b. 1852
Theodore E. BurtonAmerican politician · b. 1851
T
Theodore NewcombAmerican social psychologist · b. 1903
Albion W. TourgéeAmerican civil rights activist and novelist · b. 1838
Help out

Finish Dorset Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAnother store in Dorset Ohio: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Denmark Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCherry Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRichmond TownshipIts storyBLenox Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Dorset Township’s history

What year was Dorset Township founded?

The Dorset Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (6), 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.