Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Elizabeth Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Its Register listing is the Vesuvius Furnace and the Vesuvius Furnace-Stone Bridge. Below: maps from 1898 on.
The Elizabeth Township post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Etna Fulrnace (1839), Kelleys Mills (1839) and Elizabeth (1846), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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, Elizabeth Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Elizabeth Township’s 3.9 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
Seven 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elizabeth Township’s history is told.
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 SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Elizabeth Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Elizabeth Township is one of the fourteen townships of Lawrence County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 2,527.
Its first post office opened in 1846. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,969 to 2,527 (-15%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
2016Tunnel Ridge Road wooded hillside
2016Rock Hill Elementary School
2015Map of Lawrence County Ohio Highlighting Elizabeth To…Map
2009Farmhouse in Elizabeth Township
2008Stone arch bridge over Paddle Creek Road
2007SouthernTerminusOhioSR373onOhioSR93
2007OldRockHillMiddleSchoolOhioSR93
2007OHMap-doton-Pedro
2007EasternTerminusOhioSR522atOhioSr93Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Elizabeth Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Elizabeth Township post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Elizabeth Township is more historic than 61% 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.
1 listings: 2 structures.
7% of Elizabeth Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (9), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
