Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Roseohioresident · Public domainMore historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #278 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 7 buildings. Below: maps from 1912 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lawrence Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #278 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold 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 Lawrence Township’s 125 sits above most of its state (94% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 73 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Lawrence Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lawrence 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 Lawrence Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lawrence Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lawrence Township is one of the twenty-two townships of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 5,870 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,738 to 5,870 (+2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Lawrence Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
also an early settler in the township, and remained through life. The southwestern part of the township was settled later, mostly by Germans. Quite an emigration from Lawrence Township to Kosciusko County, Ind., commenced about 1830, and has continued to the present time. Most of the township’s surplus population has gone thither. Shortly after hostilities began in 1812, a Mr. Dempster and another settler were encamped on the river in this township on a hunting expedition. Dempster, taking his rifle, went some distance from the camp, and finding no game relieved his rifle of its load by shooting
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
quarter dollars. In 1834, having in a measure regained his health, he, in partnership with his brother, went to Zanesville on foot, and entered 116 acres of land at Government price. The land is now occupied in part by Eakin Black in Lawrence Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. By the aid of some floating capital, he purchased fifty acres of land of Christian Harnish, the present site of Yant’s addition to the village of Bolivar. The price paid was $10 per acre, and by various other purchases and improvements depending chiefly upon the resources of the soil and hard labor, his efforts were measureably successful.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Lawrence Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lawrence Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #278 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.
5 listings: 1 building, 1 historic district, the Zoar Historic District, with 7 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 73 historic buildings in all.
11% of Lawrence Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
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