Founding year: the first Mineral Ridge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mineral Ridge’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mineral Ridge is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #678 of 993 in Ohio. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mineral Ridge’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 Mineral Ridge’s 2.7 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Mineral Ridge’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mineral Ridge. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Warren sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mineral Ridge.
The area of Mineral Ridge was primarily a farming community, with some coal mining in the 1830s. In the mid-1850s, John Lewis, superintendent of the Mineral Ridge Coal Mines, discovered black band iron ore beneath the layers of coal ore, leading to a boom of companies working with the blast furnaces of Brier Hill, Niles, and later, Mineral Ridge itself. The main deposit of iron for Youngstown’s growing steel industry, this iron was known as “American Scotch Pig” and “Warner’s Scotch Pig.”
By the late 19th century, the mining industry was largely in decline and Mineral Ridge disincorporated in 1917. However, some mines did still operate into the Great Depression.
The Mineral Ridge post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mineral Ridge rank for history?
Mineral Ridge is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #678 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.
How old are the homes in Mineral Ridge?
14% of Mineral Ridge’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
