Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns · #163 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1907 on and old-book passages.
The Walnut Township post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Walnut (1826), Monticello (1827) and New Salem (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walnut Township is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #163 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Walnut Township’s 34.0 sits above most of its state (86% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 23 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Walnut Township’s history is told.
Three 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).
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 SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Walnut Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Walnut Township is one of the thirteen townships of Fairfield County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 6,673.
Its first post office opened in 1826. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 6,841 to 6,673 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Walnut Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
John L. Zollinger was so young when the family came to Walnut Township that he does not recall the long wagon journey but he remembers the appearance of the country that surrounded his new home and the little log schoolhouse in which he learned his first book lessons. Later he attended the Fairfield Union Academy at Pleasantville and still later the
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Walnut 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 Walnut Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Walnut Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Walnut Township post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Walnut Township is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #163 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Henry Musser House (listed 1978, the first). 23 historic buildings in all.
21% of Walnut Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (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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