Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #545 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is . Below: maps from 1911 on.
The Lanier Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Enterprise (1846), Wheatville (1853) and Lanier (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lanier Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #545 of 993 in Ohio. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Lanier Township’s 2.7 sits near the middle of its state (55% 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.
Four 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lanier Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lanier 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 Lanier Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lanier Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lanier Township is one of the twelve townships of Preble County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 3,727 people in the township.
Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,853 to 3,727 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 SurveyThe 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.
Nobody well known was born in Lanier Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lanier Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lanier Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #545 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.
23% of Lanier Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
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