Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1960 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Union Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Union Township’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.
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 Union Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Union Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Union Township is one of the seventeen townships of Hancock County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,881.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,783 to 1,881 (+5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Union Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
nam, strikes the Blanchard River about two miles southeast of Ottawa. In passing through Orange, Riley Creek receives two small runs from the south, which di'ain the southern portion of the townshij). The marsh outlet begins in Union Township, and runs across the northwest corner of Orange into Riley Creek. The west fork of Ottawa Creek comes in from Van Buren Township in Section 13, thence winds northward and unites with the east fork about one-half mile east of Cannonsburg, in Union Township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
passing years, until 1885 found Union Township with ten good schoolhouses, those at Rawsqn and Cory employing two teachers each. Villages. — Cannonsburg, the oldest village in the township, was laid out December 12, 1839, ou Sections 35 and 36, by Benjamin and James C.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Union 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 Union Township.
Nobody well known was born in Union Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Cannonsburg, 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.
Union Township is more historic than 67% 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.
45% of Union Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1949.
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 (3), 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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