Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5More historic than 97% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 35 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1820.
The McConnelsville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, McConnelsville is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns. 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 McConnelsville’s 179 sits above most of its state (96% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 35 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 McConnelsville’s history is told.
The 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.
Peaked at 2,257 in 1960; 1,667 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on McConnelsville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of McConnelsville.
McConnelsville was laid out in 1817 in Morgan Township, and named after Robert McConnell, the original owner of the town site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention McConnelsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
mained until the fall of the same year, when they came to Morgan County, to the place afterward known as the town of McConnelsville, where Mr. Raider had erected a double log cabin, the first house of any kind in the place. The same year he entered a quarter section of land about two and one-half miles
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
mained until the fall of the same year, when they came to Morgan County, to the place afterward known as the town of McConnelsville, where Mr. Kahler had erected a double log cabin, the first house of any kind in the place. The same year he entered a quarter section of land about two and one-half miles
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
IN the spring of 1817 the plat of the village of McConnelsville was made by William Montgomery, surveyor for General Robert McConnel, the proprietor, who then resided in Muskingum County. The town site, with the exception of one or two small “ patches,” was then a forest of poplar, hickory,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
IN the spring of 1817 the plat of the village of McConnelsville was made by William Montgomery, surveyor for General Robert McConnel, the proprietor, who then resided in Muskingum County. The town site, with the exception of one or two small “ patches,” was then a forest of poplar, hickory,
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 hereJames W. Dawes is born here
Born hereFrederick Samuel Dellenbaugh is born here
In the archiveCydnor B. Tompkins-ppmsca.26747
In the archiveCapt. W. W. McCarty, Co E (78th OVI)-1
Born hereClyde Fillmore is born here
In the archiveEast view - public square
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveOhio. McConnellsville. Chautauqua building4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of McConnelsville. 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 McConnelsville.
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.
1896Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 McConnelsville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
McConnelsville’s post office has been open since 1819.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The McConnelsville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
McConnelsville is more historic than 97% 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.
One place: the McConnelsville Historic District (listed 1979).
39% of McConnelsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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