Jefferson dates to 1803, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #126 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Giddings, Joshua Reed, Law Office, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1807.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jefferson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jefferson is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #126 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jefferson’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 Jefferson’s 19.9 sits above most of its state (81% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±11.4 points). Two sources give 1803.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Jefferson’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.
Jefferson was officially founded by Gideon Granger, U.S. Postmaster General during Thomas Jefferson's administration, in 1803. He envisioned the new settlement as a "Philadelphia of the West," and early plans for the village were based upon the layout of that city. A cabin was erected by Granger's agent in 1804, but the settlement's first permanent residents arrived only in 1805: the Samuel Wilson family. Wilson, misled by land agents, moved to Ohio in late autumn expecting to find a thriving city on Granger's land. Instead, he found a wilderness, broken only by trees emblazoned with Philadelphian street names, marking where future streets would be built. Wilson himself died after two weeks of herculean effort to prepare for the winter, but his family stayed on as the first citizens of Jefferson. In 1811, Jefferson was made the county seat of Ashtabula County.
Passages that mention Jefferson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio1880 · page 117Read the page →
Read the text
which had already received the name it still bears. After leaving what is now Steubenville township, it passed through the present townships of Cross creek and Wavne, to the western boundary' of Jefferson county, as at present defined; crossing thence into what is now Harrison county, in German township; thence across the summit to the spot where the town of Jefferson now stands.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio1880 · page 467Read the page →
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" An act to incorporate the town ot Steubenville : "Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of tho state of Ohio, that so much ot tho township of Steubenville, in the county of Jefferson, as is compiised in the original town plat of the town of Steubenville, on record in said county, and in anj addition thereto, platted and recorded, and so much as lies east of said town, to low water mark in tho Ohio river, and the lot ot ground on which the Methodist Episcopal church is now erected,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley1880 · page 467Read the page →
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“ An act to incorporate the town ot Steubenville : “Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Ohio, that uo much ot the township of Steubenville, in the county of Jefferson, as is comprised in the original town plat of the town of Steubenville, on record in said county, and in any addition thereto, platted and recorded, and so much as lies east of said town, to low water mark in the Ohio river, and the lot of ground on which the Methodist Episcopal church is now erected,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A genealogy and brief history of the Haverfield family of the United States, one of the pioneer settlers of Jefferson County, Ohio, later Harrison County1919 · page 225Read the page →
Read the text
derry township, Custer county, Penn., or in Huntingdon county, Penn. He came as a lad of about nine years of age with his father from Virginia (1798 or 1800), to a point in Ohio and settled in Jefferson county near the junction of two Indian trails, where the future village of Cadiz was laid out and incorporated in 1803 in the forest.
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
Jefferson, 1803 to 1974
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 1803, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Jefferson’s post office opened in 1807, and the census of 1850 counted 439 people here.
How does Jefferson rank for history?
Jefferson is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #126 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 Jefferson?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Giddings, Joshua Reed, Law Office (a National Historic Landmark since 1974), and 1 historic district, the Ashtabula County Courthouse Group, with 4 contributing buildings. 7 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Jefferson?
29% of Jefferson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (4), 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.
★ Landmark
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