Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1990.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wayne Township is more historic than 58% 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 Wayne 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 Wayne Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wayne 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 Wayne Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Wayne Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Wayne Township is one of the twenty-two townships of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 2,409 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,164 to 2,409 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Wayne Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Jennings, Amos, Lewis and Bayless families were among the foremost pioneers of the township. Amos came with his father, Augustus, to the county in 1807, and in 1809 settled in Wayne Township. The Jennings first settled in what is now Fairfield Township. Jacob Steffe, a German Lutheran from Maryland, emigrated to Holmes County, and shortly afterward, in 1814, caipe to Wayne Township and settled on Lot 12, about a mile south of Dundee.
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.
Between 1,255 and 2,409 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wayne Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Wayne Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Wayne Township is more historic than 58% 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.
30% of Wayne Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±28.3 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (5), 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 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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