The story
Read it all →How Scipio Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Scipio Township.
The post office Scipio once contained had the name Philanthropy. It operated from 1836 until 1839.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Scipio Township
Scipio Township’s post office opened in 1825, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1906 on and old-book passages.
1825first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Scipio Township began
When was Scipio Township founded?
1825
The Scipio Township post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Rockaway (1874) and Scipio Siding (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,674201 years
How historic is Scipio Township?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Scipio Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Scipio Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Scipio Township is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Scipio Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1825, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194040.7% of homes (±9.0) · typical OH town 14.5% · U.S. 8.4%ANational RegisterNo listings counted · typical OH town 2.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 74%
NewerOlder
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 Scipio 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 A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.0 points). 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 Scipio Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Scipio Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Scipio Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1825: 201 years of Scipio Township.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Scipio Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Scipio Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Rockaway
Scipio Siding
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CooperRockawayScipio
Gone or out of use
Rockaway Post Officepost officeSchool Number 6schoolSchool Number 7school
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Scipio Township
ClayFarewell RetreatReformedScipio Township
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Scipio Township, 1874 to 1935
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Scipio Township in 1886
Passages that mention Scipio Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages ... portraits of early settlers and prominent men1886 · page 651Read the page →
Read the text
Daniel Shawbem', came from Alsace. France, to America, in 1826. and to this county in 1833 .... Evan Dorsey, who first settled in Bloom Township, was in Scipio Township about 1827 : afterward moved West and died .... Robert Dutton, who settled in Scipio Township about 1822, died in 1823. the first white person to die in the township .... George Duesler came fi-om New York State in 1847.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages ... portraits of early settlers and prominent men1886 · page 304Read the page →
Read the text
Sidney Smith, otherwise Gen. Sea, formerly a shoe-maker in Connecticut, moved to Tiffin in 1832; purchased lands in Scipio Township; moved to Cincinnati in 1838; retiu'ned to Scipio in 1840; had his name changed to Sea in 1841, and henceforth practiced law, and made more ordinaiy noise in this county than "Judge Lane's gang" ever could make (see Military History and Pioneer Sketches).
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Seneca County, Ohio1886 · page 304Read the page →
Read the text
Sidney Smith, otherwise Gon. Sea, formerly a shoe-maker in Connecticut, moved to Tiffin in 1832; purchased lands in Scipio Township: moved to Cincinnati in 1838: retiu-ned to Scipio in 1840: had his name changed to Sea in 1841. and henceforth practiced law. and made more ordinary noise in this county than "Judge Lane's gang" ever could make (see Military History and Pioneer Sketches).
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.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Scipio Township on the map, 1906 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Scipio Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Tiffin sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Scipio Township.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Scipio Township
Nobody well known was born in Scipio Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Scipio Township’s history
What year was Scipio Township founded?
The Scipio Township post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Scipio Township rank for history?
Scipio Township is more historic than 74% 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.
How old are the homes in Scipio Township?
41% of Scipio Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1969.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From 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.