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History · Mississinawa Township

Mississinawa Township’s post office opened in 1850, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1960 on.

1850first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Mississinawa Township began

When was Mississinawa Township founded?

1850

The Mississinawa Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Mississinawa (1850), Rosehill (1863) and Riegel (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 688176 years
Founding year: the first Mississinawa Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mississinawa Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mississinawa Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Mississinawa Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Mississinawa
1850–1863
Rosehill
1863–1904
Riegel
1881–1886
Vine
1883–1904
Lightsville
1886–1907
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bucks CornerCosmosLightsvilleNorth DaytonRose Hill
Gone or out of use
Bunker Hill SchoolschoolHorney SchoolschoolLightsville Post Officepost officeMount Zion SchoolschoolOak Grove SchoolschoolRosehill Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mississinawa Township
Mount ZionNew Rose HillOld Rose HillPleasant RidgeRaper Chapel

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Mississinawa Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mississinawa Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Mississinawa Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mississinawa Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Mississinawa Township is one of the twenty townships of Darke County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census recorded 688 people living in the township.

Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 752 to 688 (-9%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Mississinawa Township, 1850 to 1960

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Mississinawa post office opens
  3. 1863Post officeThe Mississinawa post office closes
  4. 1863Post officeThe Rosehill post office opens
  5. 1881Post officeThe Riegel post office opens
  6. 1886Post officeThe Riegel post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1904Post officeThe Rosehill post office closes
  9. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mississinawa Township, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Map of Darke County Ohio Highlighting Mississinawa Township2015Map of Darke County Ohio Highlighting Mississinawa To…MapState Routes 49-705, Mississinawa Township2007State Routes 49-705, Mississinawa TownshipMississinawa Township, Darke County, Ohio2007Mississinawa Township, Darke County, Ohio
On the map

Mississinawa Township on the map, 1960 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mississinawa Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Mississinawa Township on the 1960 USGS mapMississinawa Township on the 1986 USGS map1960Cosmos sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mississinawa Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Gibson Township3 historic placesAAllen TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJackson Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Mississinawa Township’s history

What year was Mississinawa Township founded?

The Mississinawa Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.