Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Newport Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
A−History
History · Newport Township

Newport Township’s post office opened in 1815, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 82% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Hildreth Covered Bridge and the Judge Joseph Barker Jr. House. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1904 on.

1815first post office
2on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
From Newport Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Newport Township began

When was Newport Township founded?

1815

The Newport Township post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name. Eight smaller post offices, Lower Newport (1842), Barber (1852) and Newell Run (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,901211 years

How historic is Newport Township?

A−

More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Newport Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Newport Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newport Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Newport Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 82%
NewerOlder

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 Newport Township’s 9.2 sits above most of its state (73% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.5 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 Newport Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Newport
1815–today
Lower Newport
1842–1904
Barber
1852–1859
Newell Run
1866–1914
Murphy
1882–1917
Parker
1882–1883
Dell
1886–1919
Yankeeburg
1886–1902
Bevan
1897–1932
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BevanDellLower NewportMurphyNewell RunNewportYankeeburg
Gone or out of use
Newport High Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Newport Township
Beech Grove PresbyterianBeech Grove United BrethrenDennisKinderhookLower NewportNewport

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

Help out

Start Newport Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the map

Newport Township on the map, 1904 to 2002

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

Newport Township on the 1904 USGS mapNewport Township on the 1927 USGS mapNewport Township on the 1976 USGS mapNewport Township on the 1994 USGS mapNewport Township on the 2002 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 Newport Township.

The story so far

Newport Township, in brief

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

Newport Township is one of the twenty-two townships of Washington County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,901 people in the township.

Its first post office opened in 1815. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,988 to 1,901 (-4%).

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

Timeline

Newport Township, 1815 to 1904

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1815Post officeThe Newport post office opens
  3. 1842Post officeThe Lower Newport post office opens
  4. 1852Post officeThe Barber post office opens
  5. 1859Post officeThe Barber post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1904Post officeThe Lower Newport post office closes
  8. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Newport Township, decade by decade

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.

U.S. Route 27 Central Bridge, Spanning Ohio River
Retake this viewU.S. Route 27 Central Bridge, Spanning Ohio River

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Newport Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Newport Township

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Hildreth Covered Bridge

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Newport Township

Nobody well known was born in Newport 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 Newport Township’s history

What year was Newport Township founded?

The Newport Township post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Newport Township rank for history?

Newport Township is more historic than 82% 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.

What is on the National Register in Newport Township?

Two places: the Hildreth Covered Bridge (listed 1978) and the Judge Joseph Barker Jr. House (1979).

How old are the homes in Newport Township?

19% of Newport Township’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 1980.

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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), 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.