Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #747 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Dover Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1913 on, and old-book passages.
Dover Township dates its founding to 1839 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1856.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dover Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #747 of 993 in Ohio. Its age 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 Dover Township’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: Wikipedia (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 Dover Township’s history is told.
Another post office, New Dover, 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 Dover 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 Dover Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dover Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dover Township is one of the fourteen townships of Union County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 2,326 people in the township.
Dover Township was established in 1839. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,158 to 2,326 (+8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Dover Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
in establishing clinrcbes, and as the first settlement in this township was in the southwest part near the early settlement at Watkins where there was a church early organized, which we presume served the spiritual wants of this first settlement of Dover Township, hence we do not find a*Liy ecclesiastical organization until the central part of the township was settled, when it became necessary for their moral and spiritual growth to oi'ganize into a religious body to be designated as a church.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the session of the church. They held services at the New Light Church till the erection of a frame church edifice, which they built in the years 1847-48, the building being 86x28 feet, and erected on land owned by Ryan Gray and D. D. Welch, near the west line of Dover Township, close to the line of Leesburg Township. The building was completed so as to be occupied for services in the spring of 1848, but not fully finished and seated until 1850-51. The church was duly dedicated at the time of commencing to hold services in it.
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 SurveyNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dover Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Dover Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1839, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Dover Township’s post office opened in 1856.
Dover Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #747 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.
6% of Dover Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
Date?
2015
2015
2015
2015