Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The Fort Jennings post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Fort Jennings’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fort Jennings. 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 Fort Jennings.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fort Jennings.
The first settlement in Fort Jennings was made around 1850. Fort Jennings took its name from Col. William Jennings, who established a fort near the site in 1812. The village was founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1881.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Fort Jennings, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Fort Jennings was laid out by H. J. Boehmer and takes its name, as well as the township, from Colonel Jennings, who was the commandant of the fort—a small stockade, enclosing about one acre of ground, on the west bank of the river, and below the bridge. There was then a fine spring on the river within the enclosure, which .was occupied in the war of 1812 as a military post.
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.
Between 164 and 538 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fort Jennings’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Fort Jennings itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Fort Jennings’s post office has been open since 1839.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Fort Jennings post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2007
2004
