Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: JonRidinger · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #369 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Kirtland was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1880.
Kirtland dates its founding to 1796 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kirtland is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #369 of 993 in Ohio. 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 Kirtland’s 11.6 sits above most of its state (76% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Kirtland had its own post office from 1841 to 1909. Three 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).
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kirtland. 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 Kirtland.
From Wikipedia’s history of Kirtland.
After the founding of the United States, northern Ohio was designated as the Western Reserve and was sold to the Connecticut Land Company. The area was first surveyed by Moses Cleaveland and his party in 1796.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereElizabeth Watson Russell Lord is born here
Born hereJoseph Smith III is born here
Born hereJohn Smith is born here
Born hereJoseph Angell Young is born here
In the archiveKirtland Safety Society bank note 2
In the archiveThe Mormon Temple at Kirtland, Ohio--(59 x 79 feet), cost $70,000 dedicated March 27, 1836
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBird's Eye View of3 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Kirtland’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 206 people in 1880 to 6,937 in 2020, more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kirtland’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1796, according to Wikidata. Kirtland’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1880 counted 206 people here.
Kirtland is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #369 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Kirtland Temple (a National Historic Landmark since 1976). 8 historic buildings in all.
9% of Kirtland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1837
1910
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1912
1912
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2022
2007
2007