Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #45 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
12 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Warren G. Harding House, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 109 buildings. 12 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Warren G. Harding House, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 109 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1830.
The Marion post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1822.
More historic than 96% 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 is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #45 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 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’s 33.6 sits above most of its state (85% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 120 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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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 2 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marion.
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, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Accordingly, Marion was again incorporated as a town, February 8, 1847, by a special act of the Legislature, describing the boundaries as follows: " So much of the territory of the township of Marion in the county of Marion as is included in the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of Holmes' Addition to the town of Marion, thence south three degrees east to the half section line dividing Section 22; thence north eighty-seven degrees east, to the center of said Section 22; thence continuing on said half section line, crossing the line dividing said Section 22
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It was the first village or town platted within the limits of Marion County, Marion not having been laid out until in the following year. Is it strange that the good people of Claridon, having the largest settlement, perhaps, within the territory at that time, and being located near the center of the same, with a town of ample area already laid out in splendid style, with sufficient ground donated for county buildings, should expect and hope for the location of the county seat here at the organization of the county, which must needs soon take place? It certainly was no unreason-
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 hereFlorence Harding is born hereBuiltMarion County Courthouse is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMarion Steam Shovel Works
In the archiveHarding MemorialBuiltHarding Tomb is builtBuiltPalace Theater is built2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marion. 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.
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 Marion’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 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’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Marion’s post office has been open since 1821.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Marion post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1822.
Marion is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #45 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.
12 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Warren G. Harding House (a National Historic Landmark since 1965), 1 historic district, the Marion Downtown Historic District, with 109 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 120 historic buildings in all.
38% of Marion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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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