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History · Portage Township

39% of Portage Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Photo by and ©2010 Dustin M. Ramsey (Kralizec!) · CC BY-SA 2.5

What stands out about Portage Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Portage Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 546 in 1900; 398 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19033 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1972. Watch Portage Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Portage Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Portage Township, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 546

Peaked at 546 in 1900; 398 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

On the map

Portage Township on the map, 1903 to 1972

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

Portage Township on the 1903 USGS mapPortage Township on the 1960 USGS mapPortage Township on the 1972 USGS map1903Findlay 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 Portage Township.

The story

How Portage Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Portage Township.

Read it all →

Portage was platted in 1836. The village takes its name from the nearby Portage River. A post office called Portage has been in operation since 1829. Portage was incorporated as a village in 1857.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Portage Township, 1857 to 1903

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Portage Center post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Portage Center post office closes
  5. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 546
  6. 1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Portage Township, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Slippery Elm Trail - Portage2020Slippery Elm Trail - PortageMap of Wood County Ohio Highlighting Portage Village2015Map of Wood County Ohio Highlighting Portage VillageMapPortage, Ohio viewed from South Dixie Highway-0268702010Portage, Ohio viewed from South Dixie Highway-026870USMC-081107-M-9013C-0032008USMC-081107-M-9013C-003OHMap-doton-Portage2004OHMap-doton-Portage
Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Portage Center, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
MurphysPortage Center
Gone or out of use
Portage Center Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Portage Township
BethelPleasant HillThomas

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Henry Township1 historic placeAAllen TownshipIts storyBPleasant TownshipIts storyB

Questions about Portage Township’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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.