Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Milford Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Milford Township’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.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Milford Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Panama, 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Milford 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 Milford Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Milford Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Milford Township is one of the twelve townships of Defiance County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,120 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,081 to 1,120 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Milford Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first child born in Milford Township that lived to manhood was Luther Slater, November, 1835, and the first marriage was Jeremiah A. Ball to Malinda Slater, in August, 1836, Milford has taken a due interest in the Ohio school system, us her schoolhouses fully attest, and has freely spent many thousand dollars to preserve a system that tends to perpetuate free thought and lib-
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyNobody well known was born in Milford Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Milford Township is more historic than 38% 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.
16% of Milford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 (5), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
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