Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1905 on, and old-book passages.
The Rome Township post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rome Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Rome 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.
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 Rome Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rome 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 Rome Township.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveTrain station in Rome, Ohio (circa 1909)Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rome Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Rome Township is one of the twenty-seven townships of Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,854 people in the township.
Its first post office opened in 1818. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,812 to 1,854 (+2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Rome Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Rome Township was regularly named in 1828, up to which period it had continued as the last vestige of the original townshp of Richfield. The death knell of Richfield, which had at one time embraced practically all of Ashtabula County, was rung in a petition filed with the county commissioners on June 2, 1828, notation of which appears on the records as follows: A petition of Christopher Champlin and others, inhabitants of the township of Richfield, praying that the name of said township be changed, was presented and read, whereupon it was resolved by the board that said 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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rome Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Rome Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Rome Township post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Rome Township is more historic than 57% 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.
17% of Rome Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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