Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1818.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Windham’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Windham is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Windham’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 Windham’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1811.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Windham’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Prior to 1811, the land now comprising the Village and Township of Windham was owned by Caleb Strong, as part of his holdings through the Ohio Company of Associates. On September 11, 1810, a group of sixteen men met in Becket, Massachusetts at the home of Thatcher Conant to discuss the purchase of land in Ohio for settlement. These men, who would be known as the "Beckett [sic] Land Company", consisted of Conant, Elijah Alford, Nathan Birchard, Gideon Bush, Dillingham Clark, Elisha Clark, Isaac Clark, Benjamin Higley, Aaron P. Jagger, Enos Kingsley, Jeremiah Lyman, Bille Messenger, Ebenezer Messenger, Benjamin C. Perkins, John Seely, and Alpheus Streator.
Passages that mention Windham, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Portage County, Ohio1885 · page 226Read the page →
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In what is now Windham Township there was a village of Indians up to about 1807 or 1808, a short distance northwest of where now stands the depot of the Mahoning Branch of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad.
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Windham centennial & home coming celebration, August 9, 19111911Read the page →
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On Cct. 21, 1876, there was organized in the Township of Windham, Ohio, a cornet band, with the following persons : Organizer James A. Snow, and leader for two or three years: after that M. E. Birchard was leader until his death more than 30 years ; Bb cornet, John Hoffman, Frank Walker: Eb alto, H. D. Higley. M. D. tligley : Bb tenor, Charley Bingham, Byron Laughead : Bb baritone, Mike Weed : Bb bass, Sylvester Well : Eb bass, \V. C. Birchard : bass drum, William Langdon : snare drum, Clinton Higley. Of this membership there remained with the band until the time of
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Semi-centennial celebration of the settlement of Windham, embracing the preparatory arrangements, and the speeches, addresses and doings of the occasion1861 · page 22Read the page →
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On the 27th of May, 1828, the Disciple Church, in Windham, was organized. The members met for sometime at a school house near where the State Road crosses Indian Creek, and in 1838, they built the neat and comfortable brick building, at the Center, now used by them for church purposes.
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Semi-centennial celebration of the settlement of Windham, embracing the preparatory arrangements, and the speeches, addresses and doings of the occasion1861 · page 23Read the page →
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In the summer of 1 855 the Cleveland and Mahoning R. R. was opened and a station established in Windham. During the year 1853 the Atlantic and Great Western R. R. was located, so as to run a few rods south of the Center. This road is still in process of construction, a large part of the work being already finished.
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.
In 1811, according to Wikidata. Windham’s post office opened in 1818.
How does Windham rank for history?
Windham is more historic than 56% 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.
How old are the homes in Windham?
16% of Windham’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1973.
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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