Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Rawson post office opened in 1867, 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 Rawson’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rawson.
Rawson was laid out in 1855 when the railroad was extended to that point. The village was named for L. Q. Rawson, the president of the Fremont and Indiana Railroad. Rawson was incorporated in 1884. In 1889 White Caps were active in Rawson, twice destroying a Rawson saloon.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Rawson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Rawson was incorporated August 6, 1884, and the first election for officers held early in 1885, when George Burket was chosen mayor. The census of 1880 gives Rawson 227 inhabitants, but its citizens now claim about 400. Its business interests consist of two dry goods and gi'ocery stores, one general grocery and drug store, one grocery and hardware store, one stove and tinware store, a furniture store and undertaker, a hardware store, a hotel and liveiy stable, a barber shop and two saloons. Two physicians, Drs. Thomas H. Woods and A. G. Herrington, are also located in the vil-
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In 1834 the family came to the county and located on the land on which the town of Rawson now stands. Mr. Church came to tiie village of Findley and learned his trade with David Webster.
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Cory was laid out July 18, 1872, in Sections 22, 27 and 28, by Matthias Markley and Samuel Kemerer, on the line of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, then in process of construction. It lies about two miles and a half southwest of Rawson, and was named in honor of D. J. Cory, Esq., of Findlay. A few buildings were put up when the railroad reached here, in the fall of 1872, but the real beginning of the town was the erection, in 1873, of a flom-ing-mill, by Dr. H. P. Eaton and a saw-mill by William D.
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Rawson was laid out by Fred Keller and George J. Kelley on the northwest .corner of the southwest quarter of section thirteen (13) and the northeast corner of the east half of the southeast quarter of section fourteen ( 14). Union township. The plat, consisting of 55 lots, was acknowledged February 2, 1855, before W. L. Henderson, a notary public, and recorded February 8, 1855, by I. J.
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.
The Rawson post office opened in 1867, 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, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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