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History · Salem Township

11% of Salem Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1917 on, and the census since 1840.

0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Salem Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Salem Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Salem Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19174 editions of the USGS map, 1917 to 1979. Watch Salem Township change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pricetown
1849–1905
Harwood
1877–1881
Chaney
1883–1883
Littleton
1883–1903
Pulse
1887–1906
Honolulu
1893–1898
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HarwoodHonoluluLuttletonPricetown
Gone or out of use
Brown SchoolschoolChaney SchoolschoolHarwood Post Officepost officeHonolulu Post Officepost officeHonolulu SchoolschoolLittleton SchoolschoolPricetown Post Officepost officeWalnut Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Salem Township
HarwoodRubleSalem Township

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Salem Township on the map, 1917 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Salem Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Salem Township on the 1917 USGS mapSalem Township on the 1944 USGS mapSalem Township on the 1960 USGS mapSalem Township on the 1979 USGS map1917Sardinia 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 Salem Township.

The story

How Salem Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Salem Township.

Read it all →

Salem was founded in 1806 by Zadok Street, a New Jersey clockmaker; and John Straughan, a Pennsylvanian potter. The city was named after Salem, New Jersey, Street's native community. The name Salem itself is a biblical derivative of Jerusalem in the Middle East, which means "city of peace". The city's early settlers included the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, which the local school district's sports teams honor by referring to themselves collectively as the Salem Quakers. Salem was incorporated in 1830.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Salem Township, 1849 to 1917

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Pricetown post office opens
  3. 1877Post officeThe Harwood post office opens
  4. 1881Post officeThe Harwood post office closes
  5. 1883Post officeThe Chaney post office opens
  6. 1883Post officeThe Chaney post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1905Post officeThe Pricetown post office closes
  9. 1907In the archiveHigh school, Salem, Ohio
  10. 1917On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Salem Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s6 items
High school, Salem, Ohio1907High school, Salem, OhioPostcardHigh school, Salem, Ohio1907High school, Salem, OhioPostcardHigh School, Salem, Ohio1909High School, Salem, OhioPostcardHigh School, Salem, Ohio1909High School, Salem, OhioPostcardMcKinley Ave. looking West, Salem, Ohio1909McKinley Ave. looking West, Salem, OhioPostcardMcKinley Ave. looking West, Salem, Ohio1909McKinley Ave. looking West, Salem, OhioPostcard
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
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.

High school, Salem, Ohio
Retake this viewHigh school, Salem, Ohio, 1907

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Salem Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Salem Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,0001850190019502000Peak: 14,186

Between 233 and 14,186 people in every census since 1840.

19 censuses, 1840–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Salem Township’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Salem Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHigh school, Salem, Ohio: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Clay Township1 historic placeA−Hamer TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDodson Township1 historic placeA−Perry Township3 historic placesB+Green Township1 historic placeB−

Questions about Salem Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (6), 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.