Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register. Below: old-book passages.
The Sharon Center post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sharon Center is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Sharon Center’s 62.0 sits above most of its state (90% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 Sharon Center’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sharon Center.
The first settlement at Sharon Center was made in 1816. A post office called "Sharon Centre" was established in 1833, and the name was changed to Sharon Center in 1893.
Sharon Center was first listed as a census-designated place prior to the 2020 census.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sharon Center, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The principal village of the township is Sharon Center, located, according to the fashion of the times, at the geographical center. It contains about forty dwellings, two dry goods, gro- , eery and hardware stores, post office, two blacksmith and wagon shops, two shoe shops, grist ar.d saw mill, two churches, hotel, town-hall and
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The Sharon Center post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sharon Center is more historic than 87% 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.
18% of Sharon Center’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 Wikipedia 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.