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 from 1850 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, Vernon 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 Vernon 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 Vernon Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Lyra, 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Vernon Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Vernon Township is one of the sixteen townships of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census counted 1,891 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,129 to 1,891 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Vernon Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Amazah Welcher taught the first school in Vernon Township in a log school house near Chaffin’s Mill before 1817. The school house had slab seats, puncheon floors and greased paper windows, Vernon Township has at present six schools with an average attendance of forty pupils, and the term of school is six months, and the salary of the teachers is $35 per month. The schools are as follows:—District No. 1, Chaffin’s School; District No. 2, Vernon School; District No. 3, Clinton Furnace School; District No. 4, Empire Furnace School, District No. 5, 6 and 7 are abandoned; District No. 8, Kettle’s School;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On March 2, 1840, No. 7 was added. On March 7, 1842, No. 8 was added, also No. 9, which was taken from Vernon Township. Since then there have been three more added, No. 10, No, 11, and No. 12. District No. 1 is now the Haverhill Special District. The first school building was a frame one and stood opposite where the Methodist Church now stands. About 1850, the brick building, which is now used, was erected.
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.
One 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 Vernon Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Vernon Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Vernon 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 Vernon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1981.
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), 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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