Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Charles Nelson Schmick House and the Cherry Valley Coke Ovens. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
Leetonia dates its founding to 1869 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Leetonia is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. 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 Leetonia’s 10.7 sits above most of its state (75% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Leetonia’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Peaked at 2,826 in 1890; 1,833 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Leetonia’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Leetonia.
The village of Leetonia was founded in 1869, following the American Civil War. Leetonia was named for William Lee of Randolph, New York. Lee was one of the founders of the Leetonia Iron and Coal Company which was laid out in the village in 1866-1867.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Leetonia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
October 1, 1868, was assigned to church at Alliance, with mission at Leetonia and stations of Salem, Atwater, Limaville, Homeworth and East Palestine. Purchased parsonage and burial ground at Alliance, built church, parsonage, and secured burial lot at Leetonia, and church lot at Salem.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
County, where he taught school some terms, followed farming and occasionally engaged at his trade of carpenter. In 1894 he moved to the town of Leetonia, where he has since followed his trade with uninterrupted success. He has always been a public-spirited man and has worked for the best interests of his community. He has taken an active interest in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A narrow-gauge railway, to be known as the Ohio & Toledo, was projected about 1872, to extend from Leetonia, via Hanoverton and Bolivar to Toledo. The road was incorporated and grading was begun, but the leading spirits failed after some thousand dollars’ worth of work had been done in the vicinity of Leetonia and Hanoverton.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereCharles Burleigh Galbreath is born here
In the archiveLeetonia, Ohio. North Walnut Street
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Leetonia. 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 Leetonia.
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 Leetonia’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1869, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Leetonia’s post office opened in 1865, and the census of 1870 counted 1,260 people here.
Leetonia is more historic than 78% 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.
Two places: the Charles Nelson Schmick House (listed 1991) and the Cherry Valley Coke Ovens (1993).
45% of Leetonia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1949.
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 National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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