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B+History
History · Perry Township

Perry Township’s post office opened in 1819, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #446 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1880.

1819first post office
1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
From Perry Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Perry Township began

When was Perry Township founded?

1819

The Perry Township post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, North Perry (1832) and Lane (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 170 in 18802020 census: 8,862207 years

How historic is Perry Township?

B+

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Perry Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Perry Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Perry Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #446 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Perry Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 68%
NewerOlder
Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)Ahead of 55%

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 Perry Township’s 1.1 sits near the middle of its state (50% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Perry Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Perry Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Perry Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

North Perry
1832–1854
Lane
1890–1900
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Camp RooseveltLaneNorth PerryPerry Mobile Homes
Gone or out of use
Lane Post Officepost officeNorth Perry Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Perry Township
Lane RoadPerry

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Perry Township on the map, 1905 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Perry Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Perry Township on the 1905 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1960 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1970 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1984 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1994 USGS map1905Perry sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Perry Township.

The story

How Perry Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Perry Township.

Read it all →

It is named in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to commemorate his victory over the British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. The battle was a turning point in the western theater during the War of 1812. Perry is known for its public schools, whose recent construction was influenced by the nearby Perry Nuclear Generating Station.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Perry Township, 1832 to 1905

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1832Post officeThe North Perry post office opens
  3. 1854Post officeThe North Perry post office closes
  4. 1870In the archiveUSRC Commodore Perry, Ohio (approximately 1870) - DPLA - 68fdfc99498cc0be14d392bfedd745c0
  5. 1876Born hereManuel Herrick is born here
  6. 1890Post officeThe Lane post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1900Post officeThe Lane post office closes
  9. 1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Perry Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

USRC Commodore Perry, Ohio (approximately 1870) - DPLA - 68fdfc99498cc0be14d392bfedd745c0
Retake this viewUSRC Commodore Perry, Ohio (approximately 1870) - DPLA - 68fdfc99498cc0be14d392bfedd745c0, 1870

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Perry Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Perry Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Perry Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,80018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,663

Between 170 and 1,663 people in every census since 1880.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Perry Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Perry Township’s history

What year was Perry Township founded?

The Perry Township post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Perry Township rank for history?

Perry Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #446 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.

How old are the homes in Perry Township?

13% of Perry Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1979.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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), 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) 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.