Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Green Township High School. Below: old-book passages.
The Smithville post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Smithville Station (1870), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Smithville is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Smithville’s 7.5 sits above most of its state (70% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Smithville’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Smithville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1832. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,252 to 1,338 (+7%).
Passages that mention Smithville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Smithville took its name from Thomas Smith, who, in 1818, erected the first house in the neighborhood, a cabin, located on the north-west side of the Portage road, in the vicinity of which he afterward, in 1831, laid out a village. But on account of low grounds the site was vacated; and on May 25, 1836, David Birney, Sr., Joseph Musser, John Shroll and Luther Carey laid outa new village of forty-one lots, survey and plat made by Campbell Bell, being the central part of the present town of Smithville.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
grounds the site was vacated ; and on May 25, 1836, David Birney, Sr., Joseph Musser, John Shroll and Luther Carey laid out a new village of forty-one lots, survey and plat made by Campbell Bell, being flie central part of the present town of Smithville, David Brenizer, who is still living in Smithville, put up the first building, on the corner now occupied by John Willaman's brick store ; the second was built by Jacob Musser, near the present residence of Jacob Stutz, and the third was " Widow Johnson's
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Antles, February 3, 1813. The first marriage was that of Liverton Thomas to Anna Wade, by ‘‘ Priest” Jones, in 1815. In 1819 the first saw-mill was put up, and built by Thomas Smith, on the site of the present grist-mill, at Smithville. The first frame building was erected in 1822, on the present farm of Cyrus Hoover. In the fall of 1815 John Wade built a hand-mill to crush corn for fam-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the first saw-mill was put up, and built by Thomas Smith, on the site of the present grist-mill, at Smithville. The first frame building was erected in 1822, on the present farm of Cyrus Hoover. In the fall of 18 1 5 John Wade built a hand-mill to crush corn for fam-
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.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Smithville’s post office has been open since 1832. Another post office, Smithville Station, 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).
The Smithville post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Smithville is more historic than 82% 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.
One place: the Green Township High School (listed 2013).
22% of Smithville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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