Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
The Penfield Township post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Penfield (1827), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Penfield Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns. Its age 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 Penfield 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: 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penfield Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereMary Hayes Houghton is born hereWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Penfield Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Penfield Township is one of the eighteen townships of Lorain County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 1,835.
Its first post office opened in 1827. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,789 to 1,835 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Penfield Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Penfield Township Rightly N.vmed Penfield Township has an appropriate name, as its first settler was thus dcsig-nated and for several years after he located the majority of its inhabitants were Penfields. liefore it was incorporated under that name it was designated by the surveyors as township No. S, range 17.
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.
Another post office, Penfield, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Penfield Township post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Penfield Township is more historic than 63% 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.
22% of Penfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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