Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Wdzinc · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #239 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 35 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1923 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #239 of 993 in Ohio. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Franklin Township’s 32.0 sits above most of its state (85% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 Franklin Township’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin 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 Franklin Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Franklin Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Franklin Township is one of the seventeen townships of Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 11,502 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 10,271 to 11,502 (+12%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Franklin Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In the original division of the county into townships in 1803, what is now Norwich constituted a part of Franklin Township ; and when Washington was set off and established in 1809, it then constituted a part of that township, and so remained until 1813. There never was any village in this township until after the Columbus, Piqua and Indiana Railroad was estalished, and then the village of Hilliard was laid out in the fall
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On the 27th of March, after dark, Jerry Finney, a black man, who had resided in Columbus some fourteen or fifteen years, was decoyed over to the town of Franklinton, to the office of William Henderson, Esq., who was, at the time, an acting justice of the peace of Franklin Township. The necessary certificate, etc., having been previously prepared, Jerry was forthwith delivered over by the justice, in his official capacity, to the decoying party; one of whom was Alexander C. Forbes, of Kentucky, who held a power of attorney from Mrs. Bathsheba D. Long, of Frankfort, Kentucky, to whom
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1840s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Franklin Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #239 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.
Two places: the Green Lawn Abbey (listed 2007) and the Green Lawn Cemetery (2024).
16% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
1842
2015