Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #63 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
12 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 59 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1840.
Greenville dates its founding to 1793 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenville is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #63 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age 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 Greenville’s 55.7 sits above most of its state (89% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 71 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1887Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Greenville.
Indigenous tribes in the region included the Wyandot, the Delaware, the Shawnee, the Ottawa, the Chippewa, the Pottawatomi, the Miami, the Wea, the Kickapoo, the Piankasha, the Kaskaskia and the Eel River. These participated in the Northwest Indian War, their effort to repel European Americans from the Northwest Territory.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Greenville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
year, and made a contract with the companv for that lighting to run for ten years. The stock of the company was increased ao $30,000.00, and the company at once proceeded to the erection of its plant in the city of Greenville. Thirty-two thousand dollars were spent in its construction at that time and the plant began operation in October of 1895.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
published in 1880: "The pioneer road of this county was known as the Dayton and Union Railroad. The company was chartered February 26, 1846, as the 'Greenville and Miami Railroad Company,' for the construction of a railroad from the town of Greenville to any point on the Dayton & Western railroad, or any point on the Miami or Miami Extension Canal, which the directors might determine. The incorporators were Daniel R. Davis,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scioto and the Little Miami, was unsettled until after the treaty of Greenville, except at Manchester, some twelve miles above Maysville, Ky., in Adams county, which was laid out by General Massie, in 1790; it M-as thus early settled, partly from motives of greater security to the surveying operations in which Massie was engaged. Though this colony was organized in the time of hottest Indian warfare, in the favorite
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.
BuiltAnna Beir House is builtBuiltCoppess, Benjamin Franklin House is built
BuiltCarnegie Library and Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall is built
In the archiveIsabelle Rosser (The Ohio magazine, 1906)
In the archiveBroadway Bridge in Greenville, circa 1920
In the archiveChristmas 1930
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveSteve Butler 104 Motorcycle 2
Born hereMatt Light is born here
In the archiveSteve Butler 104 Motorcycle
Born hereClayton Murphy is born here5 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenville. 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 Greenville.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Greenville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 793 and 13,294 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greenville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1793, according to Wikidata. Greenville’s post office opened in 1815, and the census of 1840 counted 793 people here.
Greenville is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #63 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.
12 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Leftwich House (listed 1975, the first), 1 historic district, the Greenville South Broadway Commercial District, with 59 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 71 historic buildings in all.
31% of Greenville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (10), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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