Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Portage post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Portage’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Portage.
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.
Passages that mention Portage, cut from the printed page as they were published.
By an act passed January 22, 1811, the west line of the eleventh range of townships was designated as the western boundary of Portage County; and on the l8th of February, 1812, Medina County was erected and attached to Portage for judicial purposes, where it remained until its separate organization, January 14, 1818. The west line of the eleventh range continued to be the western boundary of Portage until the 29th of January, 1827, when the following survey was established: Beginning on the south line of the Connecticut Western Reserve, at the point where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Eavenna was laid out by Benjamin Tappan early in 1808, and tbe plat acknowledged by him April 22 of that year before Henry O'Neill, a Justice of the Peace of Franklin Township, Trumbull Co. (now in Portage), Ohio, which township then embraced a large scope of territory in Portage County, subsequently divided into several townships. The State Commissioners previously mentioned soon afterward selected Ravenna as the seat of justice for Portage County, and reported the result of their labors to the Court of Common Pleas of said county at its first session the following August. The original town
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.
Portage’s post office has been open since 1829.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Portage post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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.
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