On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Salem Township is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #848 of 993 in Ohio. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Salem 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 Salem 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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Salem 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
Another post office, Rochester, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Poe's Trailer ParkRoachesterSan Je Village
Gone or out of use
Grove SchoolschoolOak Ridge SchoolschoolWhiteoak Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Salem Township
LandakerOld QuakerRoachester
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, 1914 to 1968
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Salem Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1914Morrow 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.
Salem Township was established June 8, 1818 from Hamilton Township and originally consisted of the part of Salem south of the Little Miami and what is now Harlan Township. By a special act of the Ohio General Assembly of March 16, 1860, Harlan Township was separated from it and Salem was renamed Corwin Township. Later that year the Warren County Commissioners renamed the township Salem and took a portion of Union across the Little Miami and attached it to Salem. Salem Township is in both the Symmes Purchase and the Virginia Military District.
Passages that mention Salem Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Warren County, Ohio1882 · page 663Read the page →
Read the text
daughters. William T. lives on the site of his grandfather’s first house. In 1805, when they located on the land, they lived for a time in a hollow sycamore tree on the bank of the fork, near the site of the present bridge. About the year 1808 Whitacre built the first frame house in Salem Township. It was the first shingled house between Chillicothe and Cincinnati, and was designated as “the frame house” or the “shingled-roofed” house. It was built by James Hart, the father of Tilford Hart.
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
Salem Township, 1825 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Salem Township is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #848 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 Salem Township?
12% of Salem Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (4), Wikipedia, 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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