Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #361 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 38 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
The Orrville post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orrville is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #361 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Orrville’s 50.3 sits above most of its state (89% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 42 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orrville. 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 Orrville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Orrville.
Orrville was laid out in 1852 and named after Judge Smith Orr, its proprietor. A post office called Orrville has been in operation since 1852.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Orrville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first house built in Orrville was erected by William Bowman, who came to the vicinity with a saw-mill about 1851 or possibly 1852. It was located west of the mill about 1851, perhaps on the corner where the office now stands. William Gailey built the second house on the corner of Walnut and Market streets on the site of the one built later by Stella and Nettie Gailey, and the original building stands on the north part of the lot. Then old Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in 1867 by a joint stock company, with a capital of $20,000, and after passing through different hands, is now owned and run by Joseph Snavely Champion Thresher and Agricultural Implement Shops. — Work in these shops was commenced in Orrville in the spring of 1875, by W. M. Koppes & Co., employing from ten to fifteen hands, and were not able to fill half their orders for the thresher last year Hand Rake and Fork Manufactory, Boydston & Ramsey, proprietors, was founded in January, 1871, manufacturing hundreds of these implements annually Orrville Pottery was established in 1862, by Amos
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the village of Orrville we have two papers, The Crescent and The Courier, both independent of any political party. The Orrville Crescent was established in the spring of 1867 by John A. Wolbach, who while working at his trade in Wadsworth procured a press and a lot of seconddiand material and moved the outfit to Orrville. the trip being made on a sled. IMr. Wolbach conducted the plant for some years, when he leased it to Ruth, of Loudonville, and in the spring of 1879 sold it to Cherry and Colburn, of Wadsworth. This firm published the paper
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.
Born hereEbenezer B. Finley is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePennsylvania R.R. Yards
In the archiveNorth Main Street
Born hereJohn R. Adams is born here
Born hereMike Birkbeck is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Orrville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 745 and 8,551 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Orrville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Orrville’s post office has been open since 1852.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Orrville post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Orrville is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #361 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Barnet-Hoover Log House (listed 1974, the first), and 1 historic district, the Orrville Downtown Historic District, with 38 contributing buildings. 42 historic buildings in all.
21% of Orrville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (4), 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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1917
1917