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Col Joseph Barker House OhioPhoto: Bwsmith84 · CC BY 3.0
BHistory
History · Muskingum Township

2 of Muskingum Township’s places are on the National Register

More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #504 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

Most of Muskingum Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1904 on.

2on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Muskingum Township’s history

How historic is Muskingum Township?

B

More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Muskingum Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Muskingum Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #504 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Muskingum Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 63%
NewerOlder
Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)Ahead of 49%

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 Muskingum Township’s 32.4 sits above most of its state (85% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 14 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points).

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 →

What stands out about Muskingum Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Muskingum Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

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

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

Rainbow
1888–1903
Alden
1890–1898
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AldenBuellsDevolaOak GroveRainbowUnionville
Gone or out of use
Oak Grove Elementary Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Muskingum Township
EvangelicalPutnamRainbow

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

On the map

Muskingum Township on the map, 1904 to 1994

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

Muskingum Township on the 1904 USGS mapMuskingum Township on the 1927 USGS mapMuskingum Township on the 1957 USGS mapMuskingum Township on the 1969 USGS mapMuskingum Township on the 1975 USGS mapMuskingum Township on the 1994 USGS map1904Marietta 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 Muskingum Township.

The story so far

Muskingum Township, in brief

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

Muskingum Township is one of the twenty-two townships of Washington County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 4,424 people in the township.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,461 in 2010, 4,424 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Muskingum Township, 1888 to 1904

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Rainbow post office opens
  3. 1890Post officeThe Alden post office opens
  4. 1898Post officeThe Alden post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Rainbow post office closes
  7. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Muskingum Township, decade by decade

On the National Register

2 listings protect 14 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
14
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Col. Joseph Barker House
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

I House1
All 2 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Muskingum Township

Nobody well known was born in Muskingum Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Muskingum Township’s history

How does Muskingum Township rank for history?

Muskingum Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #504 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.

What is on the National Register in Muskingum Township?

Two places: the Col. Joseph Barker House (listed 1978) and the Vaugh-Stacy-Evans Farm Historic District (2006).

How old are the homes in Muskingum Township?

6% of Muskingum Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1972.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.