Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #144 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1917 on and the census since 1870.
Spring Valley Township dates its founding to 1844 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spring Valley Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #144 of 993 in Ohio. 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 Spring Valley Township’s 259 sits above most of its state (97% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 65 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Spring Valley Township’s history is told.
Peaked at 678 in 1960; 415 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spring Valley Township’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Spring Valley Township.
Spring Valley had its start in the early 1840s by the building of the Little Miami Railroad through that territory. The town was platted in 1844.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe 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.
Nobody well known was born in Spring Valley Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Roxanna, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1844, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Spring Valley Township’s post office opened in 1829, and the census of 1870 counted 290 people here.
Spring Valley Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #144 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.
18% of Spring Valley Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 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 (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2015
2015
2011
2011
2011
2004
