Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #662 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Paint Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: maps from 1915 on.
The Paint Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, New Petersburg (1829), Rainsboro (1834) and Dallas (1845), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paint Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #662 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 Paint Township’s 10.3 sits above most of its state (74% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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.
Six 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 Paint Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Paint 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 Paint Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Paint Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Paint Township is one of the seventeen townships of Highland County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,850.
Its first post office opened in 1858. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,585 to 4,850 (+6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 SurveyThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Paint Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Paint Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Paint Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #662 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 Barretts Mills (listed 1972).
8% of Paint Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1992.
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) 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.
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