Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Harrison Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: old-book passages.
More historic than 24% 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 24% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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.
Three 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).
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 sixteen townships of Ross County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,189 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,320 to 1,189 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Harrison Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
M. L. Strawser, in Colerain Township. Her father, John Downs, was also a native of Harrison Township. His parents probably were born in Pennsylvania and were early settlers of Harrison Township, where the father of John Downs bought a tract of timbered land in section 16 and developed it into a farm before his death. John Downs purchased 200 acres in section 9 of Harrison Township. At the time it was covered with a heavy growth of yellow poplar. His industry enabled him to convert this into fertile fields, and he lived upon it until after the death
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.
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 24% of U.S. towns. 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.
8% of Harrison Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1994.
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 (2), 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.
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