Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #360 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is the John Cook Farm. Below: maps from 1902 on and old-book passages.
The Harlem Township post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Centre (1830), Harlem (1830) and Center Village (1851), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harlem Township is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #360 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 Harlem Township’s 8.2 sits above most of its state (72% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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.
Four 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 Harlem Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harlem 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 Harlem Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Harlem Township.
Harlem was platted in 1849 and named for its location within Harlem Township. A post office was established at Harlem in 1830, and remained in operation until 1907.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Harlem Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Pennsylvania and emigrated from that State to Hocking County in 1805, where they remained until 1808, when they followed the Indian trail north and entered what is now Harlem Township, but which, at that time, was included in the township of Sunbury. They remained here two years, then in 1810 sold their land, upon which some improvements had been made, “forded” the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mary A. Ingels; the next day, they started West in a wagon and came to Galena in this county where the Doktor practiced medicine a few years and then moved to Harlem Township, near where the village of Harlem now stands, where he practiced five or six years ; in the spring of 1829, he started on foot to Cincinnati, where he contemplated locating, but on his way was taken sick, and died
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs 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 Harlem Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Harlem Township post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Harlem Township is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #360 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 John Cook Farm (listed 1977).
11% of Harlem Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
