Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
The Etna post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Etna is more historic than 70% 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 Etna’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 Etna’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Etna.
Etna was originally called "Carthage", under which name it was laid out in 1832 when the National Road was being built to that point. The present name is derived from Etna Township. A post office called Etna has been in operation since 1833.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Etna, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Poppleton rendered a similar service within the present limits of Hartford Township, in the year i8i3. Joseph and Peter Ileadly started a settlement on the head waters of the South Fork, (now in Jersey Township,) in 1815. Etna Township too, was settled in 1815, if not a little earlier, by John Williams, the Housers and other.s. Isaac Essex settled there in 1816. In the year 1818 David Bright located in the Northeastern part of this County, and was the first settler of Fallsbury Township, while in 1S31, Rena Knight built a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Reformed church of Etna is located on what is known as the “Basil road,” in the southern part of the township, about three miles southwest of Kirkersville, and the same distance southeast of Etna village.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the meantime acquiring his education at the district schools, and then found employment on a farm, where he remained until he was twenty-one years old, at which age, in the year 1896, he went to Cadiz, Harrison county, Ohio, where he engaged in buying dairy cows. During the fall of the same year he came to Etna where he followed the same work during the summer season, spending the winters in his native county in the Keystone state until his marriage, when he located permanently in Etna. Since then in addition to farming he has continued to deal in stock on a large scale, buying and selling cows, horses, hogs and sheep,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Wagram, first called Cumberland, was laid out by Jerry Armstrong about the same time Etna came into existence, or a little before. He tried hard to make something out of it by leading roads from many directions into it, but failed. A few dwellings, a store and post office, were about the sum of what was accomplished toward building a town.
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.
The Etna post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Etna is more historic than 70% 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.
31% of Etna’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±18.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people 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.
2015