On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hiram Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hiram Township’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 Hiram Township’s 19.8 sits above most of its state (81% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 points).
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 →
What stands out about Hiram Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1940, then more than doubled.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hiram Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Rapids
1840–1912
Caton
1892–1904
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Hiram RapidsJeddoe
Gone or out of use
Salt Box Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hiram Township
HillsideVaughn
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Hiram Township on the map, 1905 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hiram Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Garrettsville sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hiram Township.
The story so far
Hiram Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hiram Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hiram is a village in northern Portage County, Ohio, United States. It was formed from portions of Hiram Township in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 996 at the 2020 census. Hiram is part of the Akron metropolitan area. It is the home of Hiram College, a small, private liberal arts college. The Hiram post office was established in 1816.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,411 in 2010, 2,396 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Hiram Township in 1885
Passages that mention Hiram Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Portage County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc1885 · page 239Read the page →
Read the text
Hiram Township, which originally com[iriHt> l the territory now known as Hiram, Mantua, Shalnrsvillo, Freedom, Windham and Nelson, received its first settlers in 1802, when Elijah Mason, Eiisha Hutchinson and Mason Tilden came in and settled respectively as follows: ilfason, who was from Lebanon, Conn., selected the west half of Lot 28; Hutcbineon, who was from Herkimer County, N. Y. , also selected a |>ortion of Lot 23, and Tilden, from Connecticut, selected Lot 22. In the fall thoy all returned to their homos in the East. John Fleming came about the same time, but remained only one year.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Portage County, Ohio1885 · page 252Read the page →
Read the text
week, but so rich was the soil that he raised 100 bushels of clean wheat from four acres of ground. He and Joseph Harris raised in partnership, in 1805, 1,500 bushels of corn. In 1803 Elijah Mason cleared twenty-two acres of land on Lot 23, Hiram Township, which he planted in wheat the same year. John Campbell raised the first corn in Charlestown Township in 1805, having removed there from Deerfield, where he first settled. In 1806 John and George Haymaker sowed a small patch of corn on the bank of the Cuyahoga, in Franklin Township, and the next year built a grist-mill on that stream.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Portage County, Ohio1885 · page 285Read the page →
Read the text
In 1805 Amzi Atwater siirveyed a road from his place in Mantua Township, along the south line of Hiram Township to Garrett's Mills in Nelson, and in 1806 another was cut out running westward to Aurora. About the same time a road was cut through Windham Township to Braceville, running thence to Warren, and is now known as the State Road. In 1808 Alva Day, of Deerfield Township, and Charles Chittenden, and Cromwell and Walter Dickinson, of Randolph Township, cut out and bridged the road from old Portage to the Seventeenth Range, west of Medina. In 1809 Erastus Carter, of Ravenna,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Portage County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc1885 · page 288Read the page →
Read the text
In 1906 Amzi Atwater sorveyed a road from his plaee in Mantua Townships along the south line of Hiram Township to Garrett's Mills in Nelson, and m 1806 another was cut out running westward to Aurora. About the same time a road was cat through Windham Township to Braceville, running thence to Warren, and is now known as the State Road. In 1808 Alva Day, of Deerdeld Township, and Charles Chittenden, and Cromwell and Walter Dickinson, of Randolph Township, cut out and bridged the road from old Portage to the Seventeenth Range, west of Medina. In 1809 Erastus Carter, of Ravenna,
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
Hiram Township, 1840 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.
Hiram Township is more historic than 91% 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.
What is on the National Register in Hiram Township?
Two places: the John Johnson Farm (listed 1976) and the Ellenwood House (1975).
How old are the homes in Hiram Township?
28% of Hiram Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1914
1916
1916
2004