Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #609 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Monroe was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Its Register listing is the Hughes Manor. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1850.
Monroe dates its founding to 1817 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monroe is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #609 of 993 in Ohio. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Monroe’s 3.2 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monroe’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monroe. 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 Monroe.
Monroe’s post office has been open since 1822.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Monroe.
Monroe was laid out in 1817 on the Dayton and Cincinnati pike. The city is named for President James Monroe, fifth President of the United States.
In the early 1830s, Monroe contained one store and 119 inhabitants.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monroe, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Monroe is located in the southeast part of the township on the Dayton and Cincinnati pike, and is about midway between the two cities. Its altitude is about two hundred feet above the valley and the situation is most healthful. The country about Monroe was settled before 1800, and it soon became an important trade center. The ear-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
skilled physician and surgeon and loyal and influential citizen, having been actively engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in the attractive little city of Monroe for two score years and having gained the confidence, esteem and affectionate regard of the people to whom he has ministered so unselfishly and effectively during this long
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
‘ Colonel Thomas Irwin died on Sunday evening, . October 3, 1847, aged eighty-oiie years. On the succeeding Tuesday bis remains were interred with military honors by the Monroe Guards, in the burying-ground of Mount Pleasant, a little north of Monroe. He died a consistent Christian, haying been an elder in the Associate Reformed Church from 1805. He was a. man of exemplary habits, au affectionate father, and an irreproachable citizen.
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 H. Baker is born here
Born hereJames W. McDill is born here
Born hereWinfield S. Kerr is born here
Born hereGeorge Ramsey Clark is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFour photographs of a threshing machine, Monroe, Ohio, 1909
In the archiveTwo photographs of food delivery to C. M. Robinson Groceries and Hardware, Pike Street, M…2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1909Four photographs of a threshing machine, Monroe, Ohio…
1909Four photographs of a threshing machine, Monroe, Ohio…
1909Four photographs of a threshing machine, Monroe, Ohio…1913Two photographs of food delivery to C. M. Robinson Gr…
1918Five photographs of a threshing ring, Monroe, Ohio, 1…
1918Five photographs of a threshing ring, Monroe, Ohio, 1…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 Monroe’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1817, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Monroe’s post office opened in 1822, and the census of 1850 counted 198 people here.
Monroe is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #609 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.
One place: the Hughes Manor (listed 1994).
2% of Monroe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (6), 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 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.
