Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1851.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Van Buren Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van Buren Township is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #173 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Van Buren Township’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 Van Buren Township’s 7.1 sits above most of its state (69% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1833.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.4 points).
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 →
What stands out about Van Buren Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Van Buren was laid out in 1833, and named after Martin Van Buren, who was then the incumbent Vice President (1833–1837) and later became President of the United States (1837–1841). The village was incorporated in 1866.
The first schoolhouse in Allen Township was a small log structure built in 1836. It was built of round logs with a clapboard roof, had greased paper windows and a huge fireplace at one end. About 1870 a two-room brick building was built on East Market Street. This building was later condemned and a four-room school was erected and used till 1917 when the schools of Allen Township were centralized and the present school, Van Buren High School, was erected.
A post office called Van Buren has been in operation since 1835.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Van Buren Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960Leipsic sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Van Buren Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewVB Old School, c. 1900
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Van Buren Township’s page.
In 1833, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Van Buren Township’s post office opened in 1851, and the census of 1840 counted 74 people here.
How does Van Buren Township rank for history?
Van Buren Township is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #173 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.
How old are the homes in Van Buren Township?
32% of Van Buren Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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