Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
More historic than 28% 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 28% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Paint Township’s history is told.
Three 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).
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 sixteen townships of Ross County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,288 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,363 to 1,288 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Paint Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The district schools of Paint Township furnished William A. Free with his educational training, and until he was twenty-four years of age he was his father’s assistant on the home farm. At that time he entered upon a career of his own, and after three years in Paint Township, went to Jefferson Township, Fayette County, where he rented for two years, was employed by the month for a time, and then rented again. On his return to Paint Township he located on the farm where Charles Free now resides, and on which he remained for three or four years, or until
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
After his marriage Mr. Gossett engaged in farming on the Barrett land, close to Rainsboro for three years. He was a tenant there, and on leaving the farm came to Ross County and continued his career as a tenant in Paint Township. While there he formed a partnership for the threshing and sawmill business, and since the dissolution of that partnership, Mr. Gossett has continued the business alone. At times he has run three separate outfits, and his service in this connection is widely known over Ross and adjoining counties. He was actively engaged
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.
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.
Paint Township is more historic than 28% 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.
10% of Paint Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 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 (2), 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.
2016
2015
