Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #69 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1830.
The Marion Township post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1822. Another post office, Ruth (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marion Township is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #69 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Marion Township’s 28.2 sits above most of its state (84% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 123 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Marion Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Ruth, 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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marion Township.
Marion was laid out in 1822, and is named in honor of General Francis Marion. It was incorporated as a village by the Legislature of Ohio in its 1829–1830 session. On March 15, 1830, Marion elected Nathan Peters as its first Mayor.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Marion Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
except that interval he was a resident of Marion from his first arrival here until his death. He was Treasurer of the county from 1833 to 1851, Representative to the Legislature in 1858 and 1859, County Auditor from 1866 to 1871, Assessor of Marion Township a number of terms, etc., and, in every public capacity he gave entire satisfaction, He was of a courteous and gentlemanly disposition; he was also liberal, and would have done much more than he did had he not lost his money in the Atlantie & Great Western Railroad. He built the track from Galion to Bellefontaine. He
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Marion Township was originally covered with fine timber, except the low grounds, or swales, which were covered with grass, and would be so covered to this day were it not for the art of drainage, which the agricultural commuuity have so assiduously cultivated of late years, with the hope that soon these low grounds will become permanently more fertile and profitable than the uplands. Asa single tract of land, this township is the highest between Columbus and Toledo, according to the railroad survey, and is drained by natural water-courses toward all points of the compass
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marion 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 Marion Township.
Between 287 and 38,646 people in every census since 1830.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marion Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Marion Township post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1822.
Marion Township is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #69 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.
14 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Marion Township Sub-District #8 School (listed 2007, the first). 123 historic buildings in all.
31% of Marion Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 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.
