Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #424 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Gertenslager Carriage and Wagon Company. Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1990.
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, Franklin Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #424 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 4.7 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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.
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).
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 sixteen townships of Wayne County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 4,235 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,872 to 4,235 (+9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltGertenslager Carriage and Wagon Company is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe 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.
Between 2,747 and 4,235 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Franklin Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Franklin Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Franklin Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #424 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.
One place: the Gertenslager Carriage and Wagon Company (listed 1986).
16% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1982.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2015
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