Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns · #776 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Valentine Wilson House. Most of Somerford Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1961 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Somerford Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #776 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 Somerford Township’s 3.2 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Somerford Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Tradersville, 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 Somerford Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Somerford Township is one of the fourteen townships of Madison County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 3,035 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,898 to 3,053 (+5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Somerford Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Although the above may be an imperfect list of the pioneers or first settlers of Somerford Township, and some of the dates of their settlement may not be exact, yet we feel that, at this distant day. with the limited sources at hand, the above is so complete as to give to the rising generations quite a comprehensive view in retrospect of the noble men and women who entered this then unbroken wilderness, braving all dangers of Indians and wild beasts, and the miasmas and malaria with which the atmosphere was then filled; baring the brawny arm to give the stroke of the ax to fell
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Somerford 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 Somerford Township.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Somerford Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #776 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.
One place: the Valentine Wilson House (listed 1973).
5% of Somerford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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