Warren’s post office opened in 1801, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #123 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Harriet Taylor Upton House, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 80 buildings between them. Below: 14 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1820.
Founding year: the first Warren post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Warren’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warren is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #123 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Warren’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 Warren’s 22.6 sits above most of its state (82% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 88 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. 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 Warren’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Warren, building by building, 1884–1915
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Ephraim Quinby founded Warren in 1798, on 441 acres (1.78 km2) of land that he purchased from the Connecticut Land Company, as part of the Connecticut Western Reserve. Quinby named the town for the town's surveyor, Moses Warren. The town was the county seat of the Western Reserve, then became the Trumbull County seat in 1801. In 1833, Warren contained county buildings, two printing offices, a bank, five mercantile stores, and about 600 inhabitants.
Passages that mention Warren, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Warren County, Ohio1882 · page 703Read the page →
Read the text
a new road, from Wilmington through Clarksville, in Clinton County, which was laid out in 1816, to intersect the road leading to Cincinnati that crosses the Little Miami River near Jeremiah Morrow’s, commonly called the Montgomery road; the intersection to be made at some convenient point in Warren County; $125 was appropriated in Clinton County and $30 in Warren County on the same day for opening the road. Francis Austin was appointed Commissioner to expend the money in Clinton County, and Mahlon Roach in Warren County. This road passed through Clarksville, down the Little East
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Warren County, Ohio1882 · page 289Read the page →
Read the text
The first railroad in the Ohio Valley passed through Warren County. As early as 1832, the project was devised of forming a railroad line connecting the lakes and the Ohio River, and passing through the intermediate country between the two great State canals. For this purpose the Legislature granted a charter incorporating the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and authorized it to construct a railroad from Sandusky City, on Lake Erie, to Springfield, in the Mad River Valley. Subsequently, the Little Miami Railroad Company was incorporated and authorized to construct a railroad along the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A twentieth century history of Trumbull County, Ohio1909 · page 39Read the page →
Read the text
He finally came to Warren and became a stationary engineer, which he followed a year and a half. His next employment was with the Denison Manufacturing Company, of Warren, and while there engaged he was appointed special police, serving two years, and was then made a regular patrolman, serving six years as night patrolman and two years on the day force. Having proven his competency, he was made ehief-of-police.
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.
Timeline
Warren, 1801 to 1992
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Apostolic Faith ChurchchurchFirst Free Methodist ChurchchurchSaint Johns Russian Orthodox ChurchchurchSaint Joseph Riverside HospitalhospitalSeventh Day Church of GodchurchWarren General Hospitalhospital
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Warren
OakwoodPineview Memorial ParkSaint MarysUnion
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Warren’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The Warren post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Warren rank for history?
Warren is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #123 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.
What is on the National Register in Warren?
9 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Harriet Taylor Upton House (a National Historic Landmark since 1992), and 2 historic districts, the Mahoning Avenue Historic District and the Warren Commercial Historic District, with 80 contributing buildings. 88 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Warren?
24% of Warren’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (9), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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