Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #495 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Below: maps from 1906 on and old-book passages.
The Plain Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Plaine (1826), Mill Brook (1829) and Blachleyville (1830), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Plain Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #495 of 993 in Ohio. 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 Plain 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.
Seven 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 Plain Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Plain 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 Plain Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Plain Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Plain Township is one of the sixteen townships of Wayne County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 3,069 people in the township.
Its first post office opened in 1833. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,088 in 2010, 3,069 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Plain Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Plain Township was organized in 1817, and was so named from the plains, or glades, which, to a large extent, constituted its timber growths at the time of its first settlement, and which cover large areas of its surface at the present time. Its population in 1870 was 1,837. The list of officers of the township appears on the records as follows : Justices of the Peace — George McCauley, July 12, 1832; William Kean, April I9> 1833 ; Benjamin Rogers, May 30, 1835 ; William Kean, January 20, 1837 ;
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEach neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Plain Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Plain Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #495 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.
23% of Plain Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2015
2015
2007