Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1850.
The Milford Center post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Milford (1823) and Flint (1865), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Milford Center’s history is told.
Milford Center’s post office has been open since 1829. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Milford Center.
Milford Center was originally called Milford, and under the latter name was platted in 1816. The village was incorporated in 1853. A post office was established as Milford in 1823; the name was changed to Milford Centre in 1829, and was finally changed again to Milford Center in 1893.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Milford Center, cut from the printed page as they were published.
December 5, 1866, at a meeting of the Trustees of Milford Center, it was ordered that there be a re-numbering of the lots of the village, which was accordingly done. December 17. 1877, an addition to the town of Milford Center was made by French Garwood, embracing Outlot No, 14, in said town, and surveyed by A. S. Mowry, and the same acknowledged and signed by said French Garwood and Serepta H. Garwood, his wife, before J. G. Turner, J.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Irwin Station, a village of seventy-five or one hundred people, situated five miles southwest of Milford Center, on the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad, was laid out and called Irwin in honor of Mr. Irwin, one of the early settlers, who located near its site, and who became quite a prominent citizen of Union Township. Although the town was platted, yet it was never recorded; but it is a stirring and enterprising village, situated in the midst of a beautiful and rich farming country, and is an active trading place. The first house erected here was by James Miller; the first store was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
GEORGE LYONS; One of the most highly respected and esteemed citizens of Milford Center, Ohio, is George Lyons, who has been engaged in the drug business in Milford Center since the first day of April. 1871. and has spent his whole life, with the exception of the time he was in the Civil War, in Milford Center, or within a mile and a quarter of the village. He enlisted for sen'ice in the Civil War at the age of seventeen and participated in the Atlanta campaign with General Sherman. Mr. Lyons' long residence here has given him
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1856; Milford Center, established as Milford in 1809, changed to Milford Center in 1829; to FHnt in 1865; back to Milford Center in 1866. Magnetic Springs, 1881; Kokosing, 1880, name changed to Pharisburg, January 31, 1881: Claibourne. 1879; Byhalia, 1852; Broadway, 1865; Allen Center, 1851; Boke's Creek, 1854; Arnold, 1894; Jerome, 1894; New California, 1850; York, 1844; Rush Creek, Jackson township, July 13, 1848. The present ofhces are Marysville, Milford Center, Richwood, Peoria, Unionville Center, Irwin, Xew Dover, Raymond, Broadway and Magnetic Springs.
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 hereNorton P. Chipman is born here
In the archiveWest State Street, Looking East
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Milford Center. 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 Milford Center.
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.
1901Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn 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 Milford Center’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 211 people in 1850 to 807 in 2020, 3 times over.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Milford Center’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Milford Center post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (9), 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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