Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #881 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Gooding House and Tavern. Most of Orange Township was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2004. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orange Township is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #881 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Orange Township’s 0.5 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
Five other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orange Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orange 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 Orange Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Orange Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Orange Township is one of the eighteen townships of Delaware County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 37,452 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 26,269 to 37,452 (+43%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Orange Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1826 Benjamin A. Hawes settled in Orange Township, Delaware County, later moved to Liberty Township for a short time and then returned to Orange Township. By trade he was a carpenter and be assisted to put up some of the first buildings at Cleveland.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Orange Township was a part of the United States military lands, and in the survey of those lands was known as Township 3, Range 18. When the first settlers came into this township they found Sections 2 and 3 a part of Liberty Township, and Sections 1 and 4 a part of Berkshire Township. On September 3, 1816, a petition headed by Alpha Frisbey, asking that the original
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
township, and as late as 1880, was said to be the best water-power saw mill on the river. About 1820, John Xettleton set up the first sawmill in Orange Township. It was located in the southeastern part of the township. It was changed to a grist-mill about 1835. and at once achieved a reputation for the fine quality of its flour. This mill was operated for many years,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Methodist denomination was probably the first church influence that found its way into the wilderness of Orange Township. A Methodist settlement on the east of Alum Creek is among the earliest traditions, and a church of that denomination was established in this neighborhood as early as 1828. Later, another was organized at Williamsville, but seems to have died out at an
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyNo 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 Orange Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Orange Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Orange Township is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #881 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.
One place: the Gooding House and Tavern (listed 2005).
1% of Orange Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 2004.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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