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Sugarcreek Cuckoo ClockPhoto: Kreuzfeld · CC BY-SA 4.0
B−History
History · Sugarcreek

Sugarcreek dates to 1814, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1900.

1814founded
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Kreuzfeld · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Sugarcreek began

When was Sugarcreek founded?

1814

Sugarcreek dates its founding to 1814 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 243 in 19002020 census: 2,373212 years

How historic is Sugarcreek?

B−

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1822.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Sugarcreek’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sugarcreek is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sugarcreek’s overall grade.
Founding era1814, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194013.3% of homes (±5.0) · typical OH town 14.5% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical OH town 2.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 53%
NewerOlder

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 Sugarcreek’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1814.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points).

Founding year: Wikidata (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 →

What stands out about Sugarcreek’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 Sugarcreek are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19144 editions of the USGS map, 1914 to 1994. Watch Sugarcreek change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1814: 212 years of Sugarcreek.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sugarcreek’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sugarcreek’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Sugarcreek on the map, 1914 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sugarcreek. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Sugarcreek on the 1914 USGS mapSugarcreek on the 1944 USGS mapSugarcreek on the 1961 USGS mapSugarcreek on the 1994 USGS map1914Navarre sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sugarcreek.

Timeline

Sugarcreek, 1814 to 1968

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1814
    FoundingSugarcreek is established
  3. 1822Post officeThe Shanesville post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Sugarcreek post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1914On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1968Post officeThe Shanesville post office closes
The story

How Sugarcreek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sugarcreek.

Read it all →

Sugarcreek's historical beginnings were rooted in cheese production. Swiss immigrants arrived in the early 1830s and used the milk from Amish dairy farms to produce their cheese. In the 1950s they created an annual Ohio Swiss Festival; the success of early festivals as an attraction for tourists resulted in local business leaders transforming the town into a Swiss village starting in 1965. By the early 1970s the first tourist-oriented businesses were opening, and the tourism industry in Sugarcreek was centered not only around the Amish but also around a steam engine passenger train operated by the Ohio Central Railroad which ran between Sugarcreek and Baltic until 2004. Since the train stopped running, tourism in Sugarcreek has decreased. Trollinger theorizes that unlike Walnut Creek and Berlin, which support a nostalgia that reassures tourists that what they are nostalgic for still exi…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
People over time

Sugarcreek, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,50019001920194019601980200020202,373

Grew from 243 people in 1900 to 2,373 in 2020, 9 times over.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sugarcreek’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Sugarcreek’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Shanesville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Shanesville
1822–1968
Sugarcreek
1888–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Shanesville
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sugarcreek
HostetlerShanesville EastlawnShanesville First Reformed

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Sugarcreek’s history

What year was Sugarcreek founded?

In 1814, according to Wikidata. Sugarcreek’s post office opened in 1822, and the census of 1900 counted 243 people here.

How does Sugarcreek rank for history?

Sugarcreek is more historic than 53% 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.

How old are the homes in Sugarcreek?

13% of Sugarcreek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1974.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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).

From 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.