Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1906 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Holmes Township is more historic than 65% 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 Holmes 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 Holmes Township’s history is told.
Two 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 Holmes Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Holmes Township is one of the sixteen townships of Crawford County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 1,246.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,339 to 1,246 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Holmes Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
were built in settlements five or more miles from Bucyrus, a number of years before those nearer the town. Although the southern part of Holmes Township was first settled almost a decade before the northern part, the latter division erected a log schoolhouse several years before the former, and also had several terms taught before the school building was erected.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
were built in settlements five or more miles from Bucyrus, a number of years before those nearer the town. Although the southern part of Holmes Township was first settled almost a decade before the northern part, the latter division erected a log schoolhouse several j'ears before the former, and also had several terms taught before the school building was erected.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
stood near the residence of C. S. Crim, on West Main street, and was a log structure. David Gill was the first teacher in this building. The first teacher remembered in Holmes Township was John Pretz, who taught in an unoccupied cabin in 1829. The first school in Sandusky Township was taught in a cabin built of round logs, in 1826-27, by Miss Jane Hogan. Phares
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The little village of Portersville lies partly in Holmes Township and partly in Lykens, and its creation and growth, regardless of the location
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Holmes 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 Holmes Township.
Nobody well known was born in Holmes Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Holmes Township is more historic than 65% 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.
40% of Holmes Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1959.
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), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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