Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Rzigmont · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #489 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Most of Sharon Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1903 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 64% 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 Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #489 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Township’s 11.6 sits above most of its state (76% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sharon Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sharon Township.
Another post office, Boneta, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sharon Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Sharon Township is one of the seventeen townships of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 5,966 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,111 to 5,966 (+17%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Sharon Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first settlement in Sharon Township was made in 1830, and, at the time of Mr. Hayden's arrival,it was an almost unbroken wilderness, their nearest neighbor being about three miles distant. It was here they erected a log cabin, and commieneed life in the wilderness. April 20, 1837, Hiram Hayden and Emeline Briggs were united in matrimony, and to this union
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and, graduating February, 1867; came to Hinckley 1868, and is practicing there at this date, Dr. James H. Cassady has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Sharon Township since about 1870. Dr. Porter located in Granger about ten years ago, and continues to practice there.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereClifton B. Beach is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFront section, Shenandoah disasterOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sharon Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Sharon Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #489 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.
Two places: the Matthew Chandler House (listed 1978) and the Sharon Center Public Square Historic District (1980).
8% of Sharon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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