The story
Read it all →How Harrod came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Harrod.
A post office called Harrod has been in operation since 1884. The village was named for the local Harrod family.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Harrod
Harrod’s post office opened in 1884, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1890.
1884first post office
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Quick answers
How Harrod began
When was Harrod founded?
1884
The Harrod post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mahomet (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 269 in 18902020 census: 423142 years
Founding year: the first Harrod post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Harrod’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Harrod’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Harrod’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Harrod on the map, 1913 to 1984
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harrod. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1913Alger sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Harrod.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Harrod, 1885–1921
Passages that mention Harrod, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Allen County, Ohio1906Read the page →
Read the text
Harrod is a thriving village on the Chicago' & Erie Railroad, and is the only railway station in the township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A standard history of Allen county, Ohio1921Read the page →
Read the text
Lima postoffice was made a central accounting office for the County of Allen, effective July 1. 1917. and it included all postoffices in the county except the office at Delphos ; the offices reporting were : Beaver Dam, Bluffton, Conant, Elida, Gomer, Harrod, Hume, Kempton, Lafayette, Spencerville, West Cairo and Westminster; on March 15, 1920, Cincinnati was named central accounting office for the third and fourth-class offices in this part of Ohio ; all business for the above named offices except Conant which was discontinued December 15, 1919, was transferred from
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Allen County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc1885 · page 730Read the page →
Read the text
Railroad, and after the railroad was taken out of the hands of the Construction Company, became attorney for the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad Company of Ohio. He is now a director of the Lima & Colmnbus Railroad, and proprietor of the newly (1883) laid out village of Harrod on this railroad, which bids fair to become a lively town. Our subject was married November 11, 1880, to Ida E., daughter of Daniel Rumple, of Allen County, Ohio, and three children have been born to this union.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Allen County, Ohio1885Read the page →
Read the text
Railroad, and after the railroad was taken out of the hands of the Construction Company, became attorney for the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad Company of Ohio. He is now a director of the Lima & Columbus Railroad, and proprietor of the newly (1883) laid out village of Harrod on this railroad, which bids fair to become a lively town. Our subject was married November 11, 1880, to Ida E., daughter of Daniel Rumple, of Allen County, Ohio, and three children have been born to this union.
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.
Timeline
Harrod, 1861 to 1934
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1861
Born hereSimeon D. Fess is born here - 1883Post officeThe Mahomet post office opens
- 1884Post officeThe Mahomet post office closes
- 1884Post officeThe Harrod post office opens
- 20th century
- 1913
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1920
Born hereJune Vincent is born here - 1925
Born hereRodney Hughes is born here - 1934Born hereLouise Clapp is born here
By decade
Harrod, decade by decade
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2004People over time
Harrod, census by census
Between 269 and 563 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harrod’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →4 famous people were born in Harrod
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Harrod’s post office has been open since 1884. Another post office, Mahomet, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Mahomet
Harrod
18801950today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Harrod’s history
What year was Harrod founded?
The Harrod post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), 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 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.