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History · Harrison Township

Harrison Township dates to 1810, and 6 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Harrison Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1830.

1810founded
6on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Harrison Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Harrison Township began

When was Harrison Township founded?

1810

Harrison Township dates its founding to 1810 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1830.

First census: 173 in 18302020 census: 14,288216 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1817.The full story ↓

What stands out about Harrison Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.Deep rootsEstablished in 1810: 216 years of Harrison Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Harrison Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Harrison Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewOthniel Looker House, New Haven Road: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

6 historic places in Harrison Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
11
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Othniel Looker House
Othniel Looker HouseEighteen Mile House, built 1800Roudebush Farm
Buildings
Othniel Looker HouseBuilding
Eighteen Mile HouseBuilt 1800
Roudebush FarmBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Timeline

Harrison Township, 1800 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1800BuiltEighteen Mile House is built
  3. 1810
    FoundingHarrison Township is established
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900Post officeThe Biddinger post office opens
  6. 1900Post officeThe Biddinger post office closes
  7. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Harrison Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Harrison Township.

Read it all →

Harrison was laid out in 1810, named in honor of William Henry Harrison, a decorated general and state legislator and afterward the ninth president of the United States. It was incorporated in 1850 and became a city in 1981.

Harrison Township was established in 1853, formerly part of Crosby and Whitewater Township. Among the historic sites in the city's vicinity is the Eighteen Mile House, which was built during the earliest years of the nineteenth century.

Harrison was the home of Ohio's fifth governor Othneil Looker. It was one of the few stops in Ohio on the Whitewater Canal, built between 1836 and 1847, which spanned a distance of 76 miles (122 km).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Harrison Township, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
Othniel Looker House, New Haven RoadDate?Othniel Looker House, New Haven RoadEighteen Mile House, East on U.S. Route 52Date?Eighteen Mile House, East on U.S. Route 52
Today1 recent
Broadway Street2019Broadway Street
On the map

Harrison Township on the map, 1955 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harrison Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Harrison Township on the 1955 USGS mapHarrison Township on the 1970 USGS mapHarrison Township on the 1981 USGS mapHarrison Township on the 1992 USGS map1955Harrison sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Harrison Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Othniel Looker House, New Haven Road
Retake this viewOthniel Looker House, New Haven Road

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Harrison Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Harrison Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,000185019001950200012,563

Grew from 173 people in 1830 to 12,563 in 2020, more than tenfold.

19 censuses, 1830–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harrison Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Biddinger, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Simonsons
Gone or out of use
Arnold SchoolschoolBiddinger SchoolschoolFairview Churchchurch
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Harrison Township
BaptistCatholicFairviewGlen HavenWoodlawn

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Whitewater Township1 historic placeBHarrison3 historic placesB−Morgan Township3 historic placesB+Crosby Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Harrison Township’s history

What year was Harrison Township founded?

In 1810, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Harrison Township’s post office opened in 1817, and the census of 1830 counted 173 people here.

What is on the National Register in Harrison Township?

6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Othniel Looker House (listed 1975, the first). 11 historic buildings in all.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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.