Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #322 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Croco House. Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1990.
The Prairie Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Prairie (1833) and Hard (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Prairie Township is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #322 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Prairie Township’s 3.3 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Prairie Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Prairie 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 Prairie Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Prairie Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Prairie Township is one of the fourteen townships of Holmes County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 3,096.
Its first post office opened in 1833. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,133 in 2010, 3,096 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 2,266 and 3,133 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Prairie Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Prairie Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Prairie Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Prairie Township is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #322 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.
One place: the Croco House (listed 1985).
23% of Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2016
2015