Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #698 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Genoa Township was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Its Register listings are the Marcus Curtiss Inn and the Diadatus Keeler House. Below: maps from 1902 on and old-book passages.
The Genoa Township post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Genoa (1819) and Maxtown (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Genoa Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #698 of 993 in Ohio. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Genoa Township’s 0.8 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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.
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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Genoa Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Genoa 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 Genoa Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Genoa Township.
A variety of indigenous peoples inhabited Ohio for centuries, among them the Adena and Hopewell cultures. After their decline, others moved in. The French colonials found in central Ohio a variety of nations, including Delaware, Miami, Mingo, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot. The latter were among the last to remain until forced out in 1843.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Genoa Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
township of Berkshire, and the eastern half was in the township of Sunbury. When Harlem Township was cut out of Sunbury, it included all of what is now Genoa Township. The present bounds of Genoa Township were established June 4, 181 6. Its name was suggested by an early settler who wished to do honor to the birth-place of Christopher Co-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lawson Gooding taught the first school in what is now Genoa Township, in a cabin erected on the farm of Ralph Smith. In Kingston, we learn that Miss Eliza String was the first schoolma'am. She taught in a small house known as the "Curtis Schoolhouse," from the fact of its having been erected on the land of Charles Curtis. Such were some of the, early schools in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lawson Gooding taught the first school in what is now Genoa Township, in a cabin erected on the farm of Ralph Smith. In Kingston, we learn that’ Miss Eliza String was the first schoolma'am. She taught in a small house known as the ‘Curtis Schoolhouse,’ from the fact of its having been erected on the land of Charles Curtis. Such were some of the early schools in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Genoa Township. The first school house in this township was built in 1841 on the farm of Ralph Smith. Lawson Gooding was the first teacher here. The first school house on "Yankee Street" occupied a site on land owned by Marcus Curtiss, and here Sanford Bennett was the first to wield the rod and teach the three R's. The time and opportunity for the
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.
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 Genoa Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Genoa Township post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Genoa Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #698 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 Marcus Curtiss Inn (listed 1976) and the Diadatus Keeler House (1979).
1% of Genoa Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (8), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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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