Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Keene Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Its Register listing is the Cuthbert Milligan House. Below: old-book passages.
The Keene Township post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Keene Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Keene Township’s 5.1 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
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 Keene Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Keene Township.
Keene was laid out in 1820. A large share of the early settlers being natives of Keene, New Hampshire, caused the name to be selected. A post office called Keene has been in operation since 1825.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Keene Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The United Presbyterian church appears in the earliest records of organized religious work in Coshocton County. Robert Boyd, pioneer member, assembled meetings in Keene Township when the county was only half a dozen years organized. Today the United Presbyterian congregations meet in Amity church in Keene Township, and in the Fresno church.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
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.
The Keene Township post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Keene Township is more historic than 66% 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.
One place: the Cuthbert Milligan House (listed 1980).
10% of Keene Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
