Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1961 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Florence Township is more historic than 63% 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 Florence 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: 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 Florence Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Florence Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Florence Township is one of the twelve townships of Williams County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,973 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,026 to 1,973 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Florence Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The organization of Florence Township dates back. to the first Monday in 1837, and for some years it embraced Northwest, Bridgewater and Superior townships for governmental purposés, and it had once belonged to St. Joseph since an old record credits all the territory lying to the north as part of St. Joseph Township. As other townships were organized its area was reduced, and Northwest was the last to be set off from Florence. The oldest inhabitants are not agreed as to who was the first settler in Florence, but it is the consensus of opinion that
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
was a school teacher. Following his marriage Mr. Fix rented a farm in Florence Township for three years, and then bought one in Bridgewater Township, but sold it in three years and bought another one in Jefferson Township. Seven years later he sold it and bought seventynine acres two miles north and one-half a mile east of Edon, and here he has since continued to live and carry on his general farming and stock raising.
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.
In the archiveAtlas of Williams County, Ohio - from county records, plats and surveys
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Florence 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 Florence Township.
Nobody well known was born in Florence Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Florence Township is more historic than 63% 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.
37% of Florence Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (5), 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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