From Rarden Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Rarden Township began
When was Rarden Township founded?
1851
The Rarden Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Mount Joy (1871), Young (1883) and Duke (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 296 in 18902020 census: 1,106175 years
How historic is Rarden Township?
C+
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Rarden Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rarden Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rarden Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rarden Township’s overall grade.
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 Rarden 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.5 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 Rarden Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Mount Joy
1871–1918
Young
1883–1919
Duke
1892–1948
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Mount JoyYoungs
Gone or out of use
Duke Post Officepost officeDunlap SchoolschoolHackworth Hill SchoolschoolMcBridge SchoolschoolMount Joy Post Officepost officeO'Bryant SchoolschoolYoung Post Officepost office
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rarden Township
HarmonHoffer HillMount JoyMustardOld HackworthUp
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
People over time
Rarden Township, census by census
Peaked at 443 in 1900; 146 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rarden Township’s Wikipedia page.
The village was originally named "Moccasin" by early Pennsylvania settlers, and it originated in 1846. Orvil Grant (1835-1881), brother of Ulysses S. Grant, was an early settler of the town and named it Galena after the Grants' family home in Galena, Illinois. The village was incorporated in 1886 and renamed in honor of an early settler, Thomas Ephrim Rarden. Five years later on January 10, 1891, Rarden Township became a separate entity from Brush Creek Township.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rarden Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1915Otway 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 Rarden Township.
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.
Retake this viewRVFD-1975, 1975
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rarden Township’s page.
The Rarden Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Rarden Township rank for history?
Rarden Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. 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 Rarden Township?
19% of Rarden Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 (12), 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.
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