Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1851.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Paulding’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paulding is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #163 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paulding’s overall grade.
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 Paulding’s 149 sits above most of its state (95% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 48 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 points). Two sources give 1848.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Paulding’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Paulding, building by building, 1892–1913
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Paulding was a planned community, founded in 1848 at the center of the county, and named after the county by speculators who expected to profit by moving the county seat. In 1851, the county seat was moved from Charloe, which had been the county seat for a decade; prior to that, court was held at New Rochester.
The town square is devoted to the courthouse, an orange brick structure surrounded by trees upon a spacious lawn. In the centennial year of 1876, the county commissioners determined to build a new courthouse, and visited many courthouses, finally deciding to erect a duplicate of the courthouse in Adrian, Michigan at a cost of $40,000. The courthouse was finished in 1886.
Norice is hereby given to all persons whom it may concern, that at the March session of the county commissioners of Paulding county, Ohio, said commissioners decided in accordance to law under and by virtue of the provisions of a certain act of the general assembly of the state of Ohio, passed April 27, 1859, entitled, ‘ An act authorizing county commissioners to purchase land for the use of court houses, jails and county infirmaries, and to erect buildings thereon, ete., and the acts amendatory thereto, to purchase grounds and erect a new jail in the town of Pauld-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
studying, for a while; so he chose to study and oversee his farm. In 1871, having a good farm, well improved and buildings thereon, he rented them out and moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., to complete his study of medicine and surgery. In 1879 he removed to Paulding county, Ohio, locating at the village of Payne,and commenced the practice of his profession there; in 1880 he removed to Paulding, and besides practicing medicine and surgery, bought and laid out the two additions to the village known as Dix’s first and second additions to Paulding, Ohio. The doc-
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.
Timeline
Paulding, 1848 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1848, according to Wikidata. Paulding’s post office opened in 1851, and the census of 1880 counted 454 people here.
How does Paulding rank for history?
Paulding is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #163 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.
What is on the National Register in Paulding?
Three places: the Paulding County Courthouse (listed 1974), the Paulding County Carnegie Library (1983) and the Paulding Downtown Historic District (2024).
How old are the homes in Paulding?
17% of Paulding’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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