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History · Symmes Township

Symmes Township’s post office opened in 1856

Most of Symmes Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1898 on.

1856first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Symmes Township began

When was Symmes Township founded?

1856

The Symmes Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Raby (1842), Symmes (1856) and Sherritts (1861), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 428170 years
Founding year: the first Symmes Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Symmes Township’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 Symmes Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Symmes Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 18985 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 2002. Watch Symmes Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Symmes Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Raby
1842–1843
Waterloo
1843–today
Symmes
1856–1858
Sherritts
1861–1934
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
SherrittsWaterloo
Gone or out of use
Hoadley StationlocaleSherritts Post Officepost officeWaterloo High Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Symmes Township
BuffaloCooperIrvinMacedoniaThompsonWiseman

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

On the map

Symmes Township on the map, 1898 to 2002

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

Symmes Township on the 1898 USGS mapSymmes Township on the 1900 USGS mapSymmes Township on the 1961 USGS mapSymmes Township on the 1975 USGS mapSymmes Township on the 2002 USGS map1898Ironton 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 Symmes Township.

The story so far

Symmes Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Symmes Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1856. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 464 to 428 (-8%).

Timeline

Symmes Township, 1842 to 1898

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1842Post officeThe Raby post office opens
  3. 1843Post officeThe Raby post office closes
  4. 1843Post officeThe Waterloo post office opens
  5. 1856Post officeThe Symmes post office opens
  6. 1858Post officeThe Symmes post office closes
  7. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Walnut TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAid TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDecatur TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGreenfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Symmes Township’s history

What year was Symmes Township founded?

The Symmes Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.