The story
Read it all →How Spencer came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Spencer.
A post office called Spencer has been in operation since 1849. The village takes its name from Spencer Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Spencer
Spencer’s post office opened in 1834, and 57% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1880.
1834first post office
0on the National Register
57%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Spencer began
When was Spencer founded?
1834
The Spencer post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 159 in 18802020 census: 684192 years
Founding year: the first Spencer post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Spencer’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 Spencer are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Spencer’s homes were built before 1938.On the map since 19043 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1973. Watch Spencer change.Deep rootsA post office since 1834: 192 years of Spencer.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Spencer’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spencer’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Spencer on the map, 1904 to 1973
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spencer. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1904Wellington 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 Spencer.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Spencer, 1861–1881
Passages that mention Spencer, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Medina county and Ohio, containing a history of the state of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time ... a history of Medina county, giving an account of its aboriginal inhabitants ... pioneer incidents, its growth, its improveme1881Read the page →
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There were no very well known Indian trails in the township of Spencer. The earliest road in the township was the Smith road, which is the north boundary of Spencer. This road runs east and west, and was cut out in about 1812, by Capt. Smith, who passed through with ’ a force of men and artillery. Smith cut only !
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History of Medina County and Ohio1881 · page 555Read the page →
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There were no very well known Indian trails in the township of Spencer. The earliest road in the township was the Smith road, which is the north boundary of Spencer. This road runs east and west, and was cut out in about 1812, by Capt. Smith, who passed through with a force of men and artillery. Smith cut only enough trees to pass his guns and supply
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Medina County and Ohio1881 · page 550Read the page →
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The township of Spencer was named and organized in 1832, the 18th day of February, when twenty-one votes were cast. The circumstance of naming, as given by the early settlers, is somewhat contradictory. The most authentic history of the event is as follows: The settlers wishing to have their township known by a name, proposed to call it Marsh-
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Pioneer history of Medina County1861 · page 208Read the page →
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The township of Spencer formerly constituted a part of Lorain county, to which it remained attached until 1839. The first record that is found on the Duplicate of Medina county is in 1840.
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.
Timeline
Spencer, 1834 to 1904
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1834Post officeThe Spencer post office opens
- 1896Born hereFrank Luce is born here
- 20th century
- 1904
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Spencer, decade by decade
2017
2016
2016
2016People over time
Spencer, census by census
Between 159 and 764 people in every census since 1880.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spencer’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Spencer’s history
What year was Spencer founded?
The Spencer post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.