Founding year: the first Granville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Granville Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Granville Township is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #145 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Granville Township’s overall grade.
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 Granville Township’s 137 sits above most of its state (95% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 142 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Granville Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
On the map
Granville Township on the map, 1908 to 1974
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Granville Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Granville sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Granville Township.
Timeline
Granville Township, 1890 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Granville is the location of the prehistoric Alligator Effigy Mound, built by the indigenous people of the Fort Ancient culture, between 800 and 1200 CE, more than four hundred years before European contact. It may be an effigy of the underwater panther featured in Native American mythology. The mound is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The area has evidence of Indigenous cultures. Less than five miles from the Alligator Effigy Mound are the Newark Earthworks, associated with the earlier Hopewell culture of roughly 100 BCE to 500 CE.
Passages that mention Granville Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Licking County, Ohio1881 · page 113Read the page →
Read the text
The township of Sharon in this county has a history similar to that of Granville Township in Licking County. It was settled by a “ Scioto Company,” formed in Granby, Conn., in the winter of 1801-02, consisting at first of eight associates.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Licking County, Ohio1881 · page 107Read the page →
Read the text
The settlement of Granville Township, in this county, is rather an important epoch in the history of this part of the State. From a sketch published by Rev. Jacob Little in 1848, in Howe’s Collections, the subjoined statements are taken : “In 1804, a company was formed at Granville, Mass., with the intention of making a settlement in Ohio. This, called the Scioto Company , was
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.
By decade
Granville Township, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Granville Township post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Granville Township rank for history?
Granville Township is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #145 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.
What is on the National Register in Granville Township?
12 listings: 1 building, among them the McCune's Villa (listed 1982, the first). 142 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Granville Township?
18% of Granville 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 1978.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1892
1905
1905
1905
1909
1909
2004
2004
2004