Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1915 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 31% 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 31% 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.
Four 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 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.
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 sixteen townships of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census counted 2,057 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,241 to 2,057 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Union Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Union Township was one of the four original townships laid out at the house of Judge John Collins in Alexandria on August 9, 1803. It. was then the second largest township in the county and included all that territory now belonging to the following townships; Brush Creek, Rarden, Union, Wayne and Clay, and portions of Morgan, Nile, Jefferson, Valley, Madison, Harrison and Porter. Its boundary was as follows:—Beginning at the mouth of Feurt’s, now Carey’s Run, thence up the Ohio river to the mouth of the Little Scioto; thence up said river to old Mr. Monroe’s; thence west to the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Union Township was divided in 1812. Portsmouth was in it prior to that. David Gharky landed in Portsmouth in 1799. Stephen Smith had the first ferry across the Scioto In 1805.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Union Township was divided in 1812. Portsmouth was in it prior to that. David Gharky landed in Portsmouth in 1799. Stephen Smith had the first ferry across the Scioto ‘n 1805.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tion or remonstrance was presented by Milburn Coe and others against this procedure. The Commissioners after due consideration found that the petition for forming a new township had been signed by a majority of the householders of Union Township; that the territory proposed for a new township contained 22 square miles; that the territory of Union after such division was 22 square miles; and that it was necessary and expedient to form a new township, so it was ‘‘Ordered, That a new Township be, and the same is, hereby laid off designated from the territory of said Union Township as prayed
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.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Ohio - Scioto County - ED 73-23, ED 73-24…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Union Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Union Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Union Township is more historic than 31% 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.
12% of Union Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (4), 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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