Founding year: the first Utica post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Utica’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Utica is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Utica’s overall grade.
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 Utica’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Utica’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Utica was platted in 1815. The village was named after Utica, New York.
Utica was the largest hand blown window glass factory city in the US at the turn of the 20th century due to natural occurring silica and natural gas. The glass would be gathered in a molten ball and blown into a long tube. The ends would be cut off, the tube re-heated, cut, and laid flat creating the window glass. The glass companies closed with the 1929 crash and development of new glass.
Prior to the Civil War, Utica was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. However, some local residents and a village historian claim that Utica was later a sundown town and recall Ku Klux Klan activity in the area in the 1920s.
Passages that mention Utica, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Licking County, Ohio1881 · page 251Read the page →
Read the text
In 1808, Joseph Conard settled in the North Fork valley, near the present village of Utica. He came from Loudoun county, Virginia, and was the first settler within the present township of Washington. In this year (1808), the county of Licking was organized.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Licking County, Ohio1881 · page 756Read the page →
Read the text
race, unearthed two or three ribs which measured about four feet in length; also a part of the vertebral column of the same animal. In 1814 he laid out the town of Utica, which was then named Wilmington. In November, 1840, he died of consumption, brought on by exposure in his efforts to develop the county. Mrs. Robertson died December 25, 1877, having during her life twice made the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County Ohio1909 · page 767Read the page →
Read the text
a substantial residence which is still standing. He also built a sawmill which he operated for about eight years. For a time he was in partnership with his brother-in-law, John Reed, but eventually purchased his interests. In 1858 he decided to remove his family to Utica and, on the death of his brother, Valentine, in the spring of 1861, took charge of the warehouse and elevator business on a lease. A year later lie bought the property and conducted a general grain and livestock business, also acting as station master for the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad, which later passed into the control of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County Ohio1909 · page 226Read the page →
Read the text
Rollin R. Lusk has spent the greater part of his life in Utica and at the usual age began his education in the public schools, pursuing his studies to the age of sixteen years, when he started out in the business world as a clerk in a grocery store. Subsequently he was employed in a drug store and in 1878 began learning the jeweler’s trade in Utica. He was for a time employed in the same capacity in Coshocton, Ohio, and in 1883-4 was in Plain City, in the jewelry business. Since that time he has remained continuously in Utica, where he now owns and conducts a well appointed jewelry store, carrying a large and carefully
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.
Dearing and Yoakum MilllocaleWashington High Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Utica
North Lawn
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Utica’s history
What year was Utica founded?
The Utica post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Utica rank for history?
Utica is more historic than 69% 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.
How old are the homes in Utica?
30% of Utica’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.8 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1967.
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2015
2009
2004
2004
2004
2004