Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1838.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hicksville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hicksville is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #438 of 993 in Ohio. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hicksville’s overall grade.
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 Hicksville’s 3.2 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.5 points). Two sources give 1871.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
What stands out about Hicksville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Led by Henry W. Hicks, the Hicks Land Company platted the community in 1835 and 1836. A post office has been in operation at Hicksville since 1838. Hicksville was incorporated as a village in 1871. Hicksville made its debut in American literature in 1885 when Mark Twain mentioned the town in chapter 33 of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tom Sawyer claims to be a stranger from Hicksville, Ohio.
Passages that mention Hicksville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Defiance County, Ohio1883 · page 287Read the page →
Read the text
extensive landed interests of the “American Land Company,” and of the Messrs. Hicks, their interest being known as the “Hicks Land Company.” He laid out the town of Hicksville, built mills, and made extensive improvements in the interest of the parties he represented. In his land office in Hicksville, there was sold by him up to October 5, 1852, 140,000 acres of land—all to actual settlers. In 1852, Mr. Ed-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Defiance County, Ohio1883 · page 107Read the page →
Read the text
The Baltimore, Ohio & Chicago road crosses the southern portion of Defiance County nearly east and west through Richland, Defiance, Delaware, Mark and Hicksville Townships. March 13, 1872, the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Chicago Railroad Company filed its certificate of organization at Columbus to construct a railroad from a point on the boundary line between Ohio and Pennsylvania in Mahoning County
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
Hicksville, 1838 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1871, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hicksville’s post office opened in 1838, and the census of 1880 counted 1,212 people here.
How does Hicksville rank for history?
Hicksville is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #438 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.
What is on the National Register in Hicksville?
One place: the St. Paul's Episcopal Church (listed 1976).
How old are the homes in Hicksville?
37% of Hicksville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (11), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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