Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1830.
The New Paris post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Paris is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 New Paris’ 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 New Paris’s history is told.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Paris.
New Paris was platted in 1817, and named after Paris, Kentucky, the former home of a share of the first settlers. A post office called New Paris has been in operation since 1820.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention New Paris, cut from the printed page as they were published.
So rapidly did the little hamlet of New Paris grow into a thriving village that the citizens thought best to petition for an act of incorporation, and accordingly in the year of our Lord 1832, and in the fifteenth year of the village, New Paris became a regularly incorporated village, by a special act of the legislature of 1831-2.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About the time of the division of the Christian church at New Paris, it was deemed advisable to build a public meeting house in New Paris. The ground on which the building stands is located on East Cherry street. It was donated to the citizens of New Paris on condition that it forever be used as a place for public worship, and that people of all denominations and creeds be permitted to enjoy the privilege of holding meetings there. A neat
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The area of the township embraces 22,095 acres of farm land, valued for taxation at $1,610,680. Adding to this real estate of New Paris, $403,870, gives a total valuation of real property of $2,014,550. The personal property of the township is $1,118,730, and of New Paris $409,910, a total of $1,528,640, or a total valuation of the entire township of $3,543. 190- settlement.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
build a railroad from Covington through Greenville to Richmond, Indiana, and was completed during the Civil War. It comes into this county in section 4 of Jefferson township, and runs southwesterly in the Whitewater valley to New Paris, from which point to Richmond it used the tracks of the Dayton & Western Railroad. Some three or four years after the war it was leased to and became a part of the Columbus, Chicago & Central Indiana railroad, and in 1883 it was leased in perpetuity to and became a. part of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis system of the
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Paris. 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 New Paris.
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 New Paris’ page.
Retake this view · +15Between 154 and 1,801 people in every census since 1830.
16 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Paris’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The New Paris post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
New Paris is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. 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.
39% of New Paris’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1953.
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), 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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