Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #530 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Harrison Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1960. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harrison Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #530 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold 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 Harrison Township’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Harrison Township’s history is told.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harrison 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 Harrison Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Harrison Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Harrison Township is one of the nine townships of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,814.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 22,397 to 21,814 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Harrison Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Joseph Garber was then the Elder in charge. This church, in the course time, was deemed too small, and a larger one was erected, which, when ab< ready for occupancy, was destroyed by fire, but was soon rebuilt, just over line in Harrison Township. The Christian Church was organized with i members, namely, Solomon Bookwalter, Joseph Smallwood and wife and Is Piatt and wife, in August, 1848. The following year, a small brick chu was erected in Section 9, which was dedicated by Rev. Isaac N. Walter, regular pastors being Caleb Worley and Thomas Wells. Here they worsbi]
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.
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 Harrison Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 Harrison Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Harrison Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #530 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 Miami Valley Golf Course and Clubhouse (listed 2015).
10% of Harrison Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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2022
2015
2015
2008
2004