The Kipton post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, North Camden (1837), Ponoulise (1837) and Camden Station (1853), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 209164 years
Founding year: the first Kipton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Kipton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Kipton was platted around 1852 by Wm.W.Whitney in anticipation of a new railroad route being laid out through his farm. He initially named his new village "Binghamton", in honor of his former home of Binghamton, NY. However, the name "Camden Station" would instead be used until 1862, when its name was changed to "Kipton Station" (and later becoming known simply as 'Kipton').
For many years, Kipton continued as a stop along the Southern Division of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad; however, the line was abandoned and pulled up in 1976. This former railroad route is now a part of a rail trail, the North Coast Inland Trail Archived December 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
Passages that mention Kipton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lorain County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pionners1879 · page 295Read the page →
Read the text
located, laid out a town which was at first called Binghampton upon the town plat. But not long afterward the name of the station and of the post office being changed to Kipton, the little village growing up by the railroad became also Kipton by common consent. Obadiah Bowen built a hotel at the station which he conducted for some time. One room was finished off for a store, and was taken by Hector
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lorain County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pionners1879 · page 296Read the page →
Read the text
The first and only grist mill ever built in the township was a small steam mill built at Kipton in the year 1859, by H. McFarland, and run by different parties for about fourteen years. Horace Hoover was its last owner, and lost the mill by fire.
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
Kipton, 1837 to 1872
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.
2015
2012
2004
