Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1835.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Bremen’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Bremen is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #162 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Bremen’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 New Bremen’s 10.8 sits above most of its state (75% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.5 points). Two sources give 1833.
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 →
What stands out about New Bremen’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The town was first a farming community started by Bavarians and Hanoverians, following a route from Bremen, Germany to America, through West Virginia and along the Ohio River to Cincinnati. Once Cincinnati was reached the founders formed a group called the City of Bremen Society, which drew up a charter among its 33 members. This charter authorized the purchase of 80 acres of Ohio land to build a town. Land within German Township was first established as a farming community in 1832, and by 1833 the plat of Bremen was recorded with 102 shares of land to be given away by lottery.
Passages that mention New Bremen, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Auglaize County, Ohio1880 · page 154Read the page →
Read the text
The history of German township as now organized, and that of the village of New Bremen, are so closely interwoven that it is necessary to treat them together. We will here only refer to a few incidents by way of general introduction, as the first step towards settlement was the purchase of the village site.
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.
Timeline
New Bremen, 1833 to 1909
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
New Bremen’s post office has been open since 1835.
Gone or out of use
Christ Churchchurch
1cemetery inside New Bremen
Plank Road
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about New Bremen’s history
What year was New Bremen founded?
In 1833, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Bremen’s post office opened in 1835, and the census of 1850 counted 344 people here.
How does New Bremen rank for history?
New Bremen is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #162 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 New Bremen?
Two places: the William Luelleman House (listed 1975) and the Adolph Boesel House (1979).
How old are the homes in New Bremen?
30% of New Bremen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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