Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #610 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Below: maps from 1905 on and old-book passages.
The Nelson Township post office opened in 1814, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Nelson (1814), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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, Nelson Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #610 of 993 in Ohio. Its age 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 Nelson 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: 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 →
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 Nelson Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nelson 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 Nelson Township.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Nelson Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Nelson Township is one of the eighteen townships of Portage County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 3,101 people in the township.
Its first post office opened in 1814. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,148 in 2010, 3,101 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Nelson Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Prior to 1865, at the time of the incorporation of the village, the school district was composed of District No. 2, Nelson Township, a district in the southeast corner of Hiram and a district in the northeast corner of Freedom; but the act of incorporation merged these three districts into one, under control of a Board of Education of the village, a vote of the people adopting the school law of 1849. May 13, 1867, a vote was taken to authorize the Board to levy a tax of 10 mills for school building purposes, and in 1869 a good brick building, large enough to accommodate 300 pupils, was completed
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the road just west of the Center. Asahel settled on a 100 acre lot on the north and south road. Delaun, or Capt. Delaun Mills, as he was afterward known, was looked upon as the Daniel Boone of this section, and a full account of him will be found in the sketch of Nelson Township. For nearly three years the two brothers, Delaun and Asahel (Isaac having returned to the East) and their families were the only white inhabitants of Nelson Township; but in the spring of 1803 seven families came in, they being Stephen Baldwin, Benjamin Stow and two sons, John Bancroft and four sons, Daniel Owen, two
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.
Another post office, Nelson, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Nelson Township post office opened in 1814, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Nelson Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #610 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.
14% of Nelson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1983.
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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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