Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #236 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
15 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 22 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1810.
Troy dates its founding to 1807 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1810.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Troy is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #236 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 Troy’s 15.3 sits above most of its state (79% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 41 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
Troy’s post office has been open since 1824. Another post office, Staunton, 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).
The 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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1887Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Troy.
Troy was platted around 1807. A post office in Troy has been in operation since 1824.
Troy was one of the cities affected by severe flooding in the Great Flood of 1913.
In 1970, the Troy Historical Society published Troy: The Nineteenth Century, a book on Troy's history by Thomas Bemis Wheeler. The book discusses the city's founding city and the Ohio canal era of the 1800s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Troy, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Mc- Curdy was employed in the iron works for some three years. He then moved west to Troy, Ohio, before the days of railroads, making the trip down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, thence north by the canal to Troy. He there engaged in pumping water for the railroad, which had just
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Still lower dowt\ is the Troy and Urbana pike, running from Troy in a broken line northeastwardly across the township. Again, on the south, extends the Troy and Casstown pike, intersecting the township transversely near the center, and passing through the town of Staunton. Still lower down passes the Troy and Springfield Pike, running through the lands of J. and J. H. Knoop and the Enyeart’s. Passing from the lower end, on the east side comes the Troy and Dayton Pike, running nearly north, bearing west to intersect the former pike on the lands of Abner Enyeart, and pass over the river on the bridge near Benjamin Enyeart s.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
•school in various parts of the county. In 1804 there were but three families in what is now Concord Township, including the city of Troy. The town was not laid out until some years later and in 1813 Samuel Kyle opened the first school. This old preceptor was the grandfather of T. B. Kyle, Troy's present mayor. He taught in a
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.
Born hereTolbert Lanston is born hereBuiltMiami County Courthouse and Power Station is built
In the archiveFirst M.E. Church, West Franklin Street
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltE. A. Hobart House is built
Born hereJim Jordan is born here
Born hereCris Carter is born here
Born hereSam Milby is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Troy. 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 Troy.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Troy’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 179 people in 1810 to 26,305 in 2020, more than tenfold.
22 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Troy’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1807, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Troy’s post office opened in 1805, and the census of 1810 counted 179 people here.
Troy is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #236 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.
15 listings: 13 buildings, among them the Miami County Courthouse and Power Station (listed 1975, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Troy Public Square and the Hobart Circle Historic District, with 22 contributing buildings. 41 historic buildings in all.
16% of Troy’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (15), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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