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A+History
History · Madison Township

38% of Madison Township’s homes were built before 1940

Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #2 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Green Plain Monthly Meetinghouse. Below: maps from 1907 on and old-book passages.

2on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Madison Township’s history

How historic is Madison Township?

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Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Madison Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Madison Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #2 of 993 in Ohio. All 2 inputs put Madison Township near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.

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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Madison Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Among the top 1%
NewerOlder
Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)#2 of 993

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 Madison Township’s 817 sits above most of its state (99% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 206 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.3 points).

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 →

What stands out about Madison Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Madison Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Madison Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cortsville
1837–1841
Selma
1841–1967
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Dolly VardenSelma
Gone or out of use
Briggs Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Madison Township
BuffenbargerOld QuakerSaint CharlesSelma Methodist Episcopal

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Madison Township on the map, 1907 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Madison Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Madison Township on the 1907 USGS mapMadison Township on the 1961 USGS mapMadison Township on the 1974 USGS map1907South Charleston sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Madison Township.

The story so far

Madison Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Madison Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Madison Township is one of the ten townships of Clark County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census reported 2,532 people living in the township.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,543 in 2010, 2,532 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Madison Township, 1902–1908

Passages that mention Madison Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

September 17, i860, a committee was appointed by the Board of Education of Madison Township consisting of Jacob Sarber, Wm. Perrin and Henry Long "for the purpose of visiting the school houses in sub-district Xo. 18 to ascertain whether they have school room enough, and to report at the April meeti…
History of Madison Township, including Groveport and Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio1902 · page 119Read the page →
Read the text

September 17, i860, a committee was appointed by the Board of Education of Madison Township consisting of Jacob Sarber, Wm. Perrin and Henry Long "for the purpose of visiting the school houses in sub-district Xo. 18 to ascertain whether they have school room enough, and to report at the April meeting." On April 15, 1861, this committee submitted a report which "was received and the committee discharged," and on

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
We will supplement the list of township officers with a list of Madison Township citizens who have Tield county, state and other honorary positions. In October of 1827 John Swisher succeeded James Kilbourne as county assessor, and served until 1835, The office of county assessor was abolished in 18…
History of Madison Township, including Groveport and Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio1902 · page 76Read the page →
Read the text

We will supplement the list of township officers with a list of Madison Township citizens who have Tield county, state and other honorary positions. In October of 1827 John Swisher succeeded James Kilbourne as county assessor, and served until 1835, The office of county assessor was abolished in 1841, when the office of Township Assesssor was created.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tion and to its upholders. Not much is known now of this "railway" in Clark County, but it is known that Selma, in the southern part of Madison Township, was one of the main stations of the road. There was there a large settlement of Hieksite Quakers, which sect was particularly violent in its oppo…
20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio1908 · page 131Read the page →
Read the text

tion and to its upholders. Not much is known now of this "railway" in Clark County, but it is known that Selma, in the southern part of Madison Township, was one of the main stations of the road. There was there a large settlement of Hieksite Quakers, which sect was particularly violent in its opposition to slavery.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Selma is located in the southwestern part of Madison Township on the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was laid out in town lots in 1842 by Dr. Jesse Wilson.
20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio1908 · page 343Read the page →
Read the text

Selma is located in the southwestern part of Madison Township on the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was laid out in town lots in 1842 by Dr. Jesse Wilson.

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

Madison Township, 1837 to 1967

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Cortsville post office opens
  3. 1841Post officeThe Cortsville post office closes
  4. 1841Post officeThe Selma post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1907On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1967Post officeThe Selma post office closes
By decade

Madison Township, decade by decade

On the National Register

2 listings protect 206 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
206
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Green Plain Monthly Meetinghouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Madison Township

Nobody well known was born in Madison Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Madison Township’s history

How does Madison Township rank for history?

Madison Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #2 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.

What is on the National Register in Madison Township?

2 listings: 1 building, among them the Green Plain Monthly Meetinghouse (listed 1982, the first). 206 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Madison Township?

38% of Madison Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1960.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.