Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1931 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jefferson Township is more historic than 64% 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Jefferson Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Jefferson Township is one of the sixteen townships of Brown County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,407 people in the township.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,433 in 2010, 1,407 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Jefferson Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
'.v That the men of Jefferson Township bore an honorable part in the great struggle with secession, during the four long, eventful years from 1861 to 1865, and performed deeds of loyalty and heroism, the hotly contested fields of Cheat Mountain, Green Brier, Chickamauga, Stone River, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge and many others bear ample evidence. Among those who slumber in unknown and unmarked graves beside the still waters of the South, lie a number of the sons of Jefferson Township, there to await the reveille of the heroic, when time shall be no more. But the memory of their
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Th&t the men of Jefferson Township bore an honorable part in the great struggle with secession, during the four long, eventful years from 1861 to 1865, and performed deeds of loyalty and heroism, the hotly contested fields of Cheat Mountain, Green Brier, Chickamauga, Stone River, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge and many others bear ample evidence. Among those who slumber in unknown and unmarked graves beside the still waters of the South, lie a number of the sons of Jefferson Township, there to await the reveille of the heroic, when time shall be no more. But the memory of their
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jefferson 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 Jefferson Township.
Nobody well known was born in Jefferson Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Red Oak, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Jefferson Township is more historic than 64% 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.
38% of Jefferson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1968.
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), 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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