More historic than 39% of U.S. towns · #757 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Rootstown Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1906 on and old-book passages.
The Rootstown Township post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, New Milford (1857) and Industry (1896), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 8,602205 years
How historic is Rootstown Township?
C+
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Rootstown Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rootstown Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rootstown Township is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #757 of 993 in Ohio. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rootstown 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 Rootstown 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 (±2.3 points) is firm at this size. 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 Rootstown 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
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Rootstown
1821–today
New Milford
1857–1967
Industry
1896–1907
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
IndustryNew MilfordRootstownValley Hills
Gone or out of use
Industry Post Officepost officeL and M Mold Corporation AirportairportNew Milford Post Officepost officeSober Pitmine
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rootstown Township
HomelandOldSaint Peters
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Rootstown Township on the map, 1906 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rootstown Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Ravenna 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 Rootstown Township.
Rootstown is the only Rootstown Township statewide and is named for Ephraim Root, a native of Coventry, Connecticut, who was a lawyer and investor in the Connecticut Land Company. He was the proprietor of the township as well as several other properties in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Root first visited the township in 1800 and his brother David was the first settler, moving to Rootstown in 1802. Rootstown was originally surveyed from the Western Reserve as survey township Town 2, Range 8 and was formally organized as a civil township in 1810 after previously having been part of Franklin Township. In 1821 the Rootstown Post Office was established. It continues today under the ZIP Code Rootstown, OH 44272 and serves much of the township. In 1832, many German immigrants came who were farmers, stonemasons and carpenters. A plague in 1845 took 49 victims, including the town's only phy…
Passages that mention Rootstown Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Portage County, Ohio1885 · page 236Read the page →
Read the text
Ephraim Root, principal proprietor of Rootstown Township, in company with a young man named Harvey Davenport, came out in the spring of 1800 to survey his land, which was done, he returning in the fall, but leaving his companion in the wilderness, the unfortunate young man having suddenly died. In the spring of 1801 Mr. Root again came out, bringing his brother David, and they together made a settlement in the northeast corner of the township. They erected a two-story log-cabin not far from where now is Campbellsport. Nathan Muzzy, of whom frequent mention is made in several
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.
Timeline
Rootstown Township, 1821 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Rootstown Township post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Rootstown Township rank for history?
Rootstown Township is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #757 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.
How old are the homes in Rootstown Township?
5% of Rootstown Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
