History · Woodlawn

Woodlawn’s post office opened in 1886, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #793 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

Most of Woodlawn was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Frederick and Harriet Rauh House. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1950.

1886first post office

1on the National Register

6%homes built before 1940

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Photo: Nyttend · Public domain

Quick answers

How Woodlawn began

When was Woodlawn founded?

1886

The Woodlawn post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,335 in 19502020 census: 3,916140 years

How historic is Woodlawn?

C⁺

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Woodlawn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

History grade

What drives Woodlawn’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodlawn is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #793 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Woodlawn’s overall grade.

Founding era1886, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19405.8% of homes (±6.2) · typical OH town 14.5% · U.S. 8.4%C National Register1 listing, 2.6 per 10,000 residents · typical OH town 2.9 · U.S. 2.4B⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 36%

NewerOlder

Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)Ahead of 20%

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 Woodlawn’s 2.6 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.2 points). 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 Woodlawn’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Woodlawn are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Woodlawn’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Woodlawn’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story so far

Woodlawn, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Woodlawn yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1886. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,294 to 3,916 (+19%).

From the old history books

What they wrote about Woodlawn in 1894

Passages that mention Woodlawn, cut from the printed page as they were published.

**History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio**1894 · page 441Read the page →
Read the text
Woodlawn was platted in 1876 by Thomas T. and George S. Brown, and comprises a portion of the historic Tucker farm. The site is slightly elevated above the general level of the valley.
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

Woodlawn, 1886 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1886Post officeThe Woodlawn post office opens
20th century
1919Post officeThe Woodlawn post office closes
1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Woodlawn, decade by decade

Today12 recent

2011Woodlawn-Former Hexion Specialty Chemicals (CORF)

2004OHMap-doton-Woodlawn

On the map

Woodlawn on the map, 1955 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Woodlawn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1955Glendale sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Woodlawn.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Woodlawn

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2016

Frederick and Harriet Rauh House

Buildings

All 1 listings

Frederick and Harriet Rauh HouseBuilding · listed 2016

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Woodlawn, census by census

Grew from 1,335 people in 1950 to 3,916 in 2020.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Woodlawn’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Woodlawn had its own post office from 1886 to 1919.

Woodlawn

1886–1919

18801950today

Gone or out of use

Woodlawn Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Lincoln HeightsIts storyD Springfield Township4 historic placesB Glendale2 historic placesA Wyoming20 historic placesA⁻EvendaleIts storyC⁻

Questions about Woodlawn’s history

What year was Woodlawn founded?

The Woodlawn post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Woodlawn rank for history?

Woodlawn is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #793 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 Woodlawn?

One place: the Frederick and Harriet Rauh House (listed 2016).

How old are the homes in Woodlawn?

6% of Woodlawn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1987.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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