Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% 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 66% of U.S. towns, #473 of 993 in Ohio. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 2.1 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
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 twenty-two townships of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 4,846 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,698 to 4,846 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Franklin Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Benfer owns 185 acres of land, and has also one-fourth interest in a tract of fortyfive acres, all in Franklin Township. He taught his first school at the age of twenty, and at twenty-one went to school at Oberlin. during one summer, and again taught school the following winter. In April, 1856. he went to Hagersville Seminary, Ashland County, where he remained two years. After marriage, he taught school for two years, and in 1861, moved to Roanoke, Ind., where, in company with one F. Reefy, he established the Roanoke Seminary. In 1863, he returned to Ohio to superintend nis lather’s farm in Wayne Township, remaining
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 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.
Nobody well known was born in Franklin Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 66% of U.S. towns, #473 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.
18% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (3), 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.
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