From New Philadelphia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How New Philadelphia began
When was New Philadelphia founded?
1810
The New Philadelphia post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Blake Mills (1886), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 236 in 18202020 census: 17,677216 years
How historic is New Philadelphia?
A−
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first New Philadelphia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Philadelphia’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Philadelphia is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #284 of 993 in Ohio. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Philadelphia’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 Philadelphia’s 0.6 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about New Philadelphia’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.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Moravian Church, under the leadership of David Zeisberger, founded Schoenbrunn ("beautiful spring"), also known as Welhik Tuppeek ("the best spring"), in 1772 as a Christian mission to the Delaware Indians. Schönbrunn was two miles south-east of present-day New Philadelphia, Ohio. The settlement grew to include 60 dwellings and more than 300 inhabitants, both Munsee and Germans, who drew up Ohio's first civil code and built its first Christian church and schoolhouse. Problems associated with the American Revolution prompted Schoenbrunn's closing in 1777.
Passages that mention New Philadelphia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio1884 · page 216Read the page →
Read the text
having deeply excavated their channels, have formed a network of valleys, which give great diversity to most of the surface. The relief or relative elevation of some portions of the county may be plainly seen by one, who, starting from New Philadelphia, will pass to a distance of ten miles either east or west. The town of New Philadelphia is located on a terrace, which reaches northward to Dover, and has an elevation of from forty to fifty feet above the bed of the Tuscarawas. This plateau is the old flood plain of the river, formed when it ran at a higher level than now. It is composed of gravel, as
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio1884 · page 393Read the page →
Read the text
Railroad Company are hereby authorized to extend an arm of said Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad down the valley of Sandy so far south as to intersect the Steubenville Railroad.” Under this authority, the Tuscarawas brancL was built, extending from Bayard, Columbiana County, to New Philadelphia, a distance of thirty-two miles. A public meeting was held at New Philadelphia June 27, 1851, to con-
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 Philadelphia, 1810 to 1973
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Philadelphia. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1909Uhrichsville 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 New Philadelphia.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewNew Philadelphia-Tuscarawas County Port Authority (CORF), 1899
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on New Philadelphia’s page.
The New Philadelphia post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does New Philadelphia rank for history?
New Philadelphia is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #284 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 Philadelphia?
One place: the Tuscarawas County Courthouse (listed 1973).
How old are the homes in New Philadelphia?
30% of New Philadelphia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (18), 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, 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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