Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1850.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives McComb’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, McComb is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of McComb’s overall grade.
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 McComb’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.8 points). Two sources give 1847.
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 →
What stands out about McComb’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
McComb, originally known as Pleasantville, was laid out in 1847. The village was renamed McComb in 1858.
Despite its spelling, McComb is named for Alexander Macomb, who was the second man to serve as Commanding General of the United States Army. The reason for the spelling, "McComb" instead of "Macomb," is that the village was named by a Scotsman who fought under Macomb at the Battle of Plattsburg, and he used the Scottish manner of pronunciation and spelling.
William Bensinger and John Reed Porter among the first soldiers receive the Medal of Honor in American history for their role in the Great Locomotive Chase, are buried in McComb.
Passages that mention McComb, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Hancock county [Ohio] from its earliest settlement to the present time, together with remeiniscenses of pioneer life, incidents, statistical tables, and biographical sketches1881 · page 17Read the page →
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Todd, and Kalb, and Algire and other families settled at or near the site of the village of McComb. These families, true pioneers, made for themselves homes, and where was one unbroken w'ilderness, now stands the prosperous village of McComb. xA.nd a few of these first settlers, these frontiersmen of half a century ago, are still alive, and look with just pride upon the results of their labor.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Hancock County, Ohio1886 · page 476Read the page →
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Though the bed of the old Continental Railroad was graded through this township in 1872-73, that is as far as the enterprise advanced; and the people of McComb waited in vain for years to obtain an outlet by this route. At last the more enterprising citizens of the town felt that something must be done if McComb was ever to be anything more than a cross-roads village, and in 1879, the project was conceived of building a railroad from McComb to Deshler, at the crossing of the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Dayton & Michigan Railroads. Satisfactory arrangements having been made with
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History of Hancock County, Ohio1886 · page 316Read the page →
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The McComb, Deshler & Toledo Railroad Company was incoi'porated June 2, 1879, by a coterie of McComb citizens, with a capital of $20,000, for the purpose of building a railroad fi'om McComb, Hancock County, to Deshler, in Henry County. This company entered into an agreement with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company to furnish right of way, grade, bridge and tie the road, and the latter agreed to lay the track and operate the road perpetually as a branch of the main line. Grading was commenced in the spring of 1880, and on the 2-4th of November, following, the first con-
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History of Hancock county [Ohio] from its earliest settlement to the present time, together with remeiniscenses of pioneer life, incidents, statistical tables, and biographical sketches1881 · page 422Read the page →
Read the text
Needles, at and near where the village of McComb now stands. In the following year William and Alexander Kilpatrick, George Algire, John Kalb, Alexander Amspoker, came to the same neighborhood. In 1835 Robert Morrison, John Bartholomew, Charles Blakeman, Michael Price, David Wright, Jacob Thomas and others reinforced the new settlement.
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.
By decade
McComb, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 319 and 1,676 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on McComb’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Old corners and burying grounds
McComb’s post office has been open since 1850.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Hillside Pines Mobile Home Park
1cemetery inside McComb
McComb Union
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about McComb’s history
What year was McComb founded?
In 1847, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. McComb’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1870 counted 319 people here.
How does McComb rank for history?
McComb is more historic than 72% 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.
How old are the homes in McComb?
36% of McComb’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.8 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (5), 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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