Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Heter Farm and the Henny Barn. Below: maps from 1915 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thompson Township is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Thompson Township’s 45.6 sits above most of its state (88% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 Thompson Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Thompson 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 Thompson Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Thompson Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Thompson Township is one of the fifteen townships of Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,370 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,443 to 1,370 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Thompson Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Reed and Venice Townships, with a strip two and a half sections in width, along the east side of the teiTitory, now known as Adams, Scipio and Bloom Townships), 143.| square miles, was set off April 25, 1820, by the commissioners of Sandusky County, under the name of Thompson Township, The township of Seneca was set oft' May 8, 1820, This embraced the whole county outside of the original Thompson Township and the reservations. In June following, that portion of the present townshij) of Clinton east of the Sandusky River, was established under its present name, and one year later the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1840, and shared with the pioneers, hitherto noticed, in their toils, their pleasures and their sorrows. Refen'ing to the earl}- settlement of Ihis division of the county, the following testimony is taken fi'om Stewart's work, published in 1874: '"The greater j)ortionof the early settlement of Thompson Township consisted of people fi-om Pennsylvania, and of immigrants direct fi-om Genuany; a good substantial class of people, naturally inclined to improve the soil and U> enrich the township and county by persevering industry and toil. In the southwestern portion of the townshiji, a large number of Germans formed a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
as a Union Reformed and Lutheran Society. The present house of worship, erected in 1868, is the foiu'th building raised by the congregation. It and the Reformed Church, of Thompson Township, are served by the same preachers {vide History of Thompson Township). The Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Adams Township, was reorganized under State law, October 16, 1856, with John Ivistler, chairman, and John BennehoflP, secretary, Reuben Bennehoff, "William Muhn and John Kistler were elected trustees.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church was foimded in 1845, and the first services were held by the Sanguinists of the church in Thompson Township ; none of whom resided here permanently. In January, 1852, Rev. M. Molon was appointed to the charge of this parish; he was also priest of St. Mary's; but in September of that year Rev. J. B. Uhlmann took charge. Rev. Joseph L. Bihn succeeded him in 1856 and continued until 1873, Rev. Nicholas Sintz assisting fi-om the fall of 1870 to the fall of 1872, when Rev. A. M. Meile was appointed.
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.
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 Thompson Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Thompson Township is more historic than 97% 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.
Two places: the Heter Farm (listed 1979) and the Henny Barn (1979).
40% of Thompson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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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