Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #614 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1810.
Wooster Township dates its founding to 1808 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1810.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wooster Township is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #614 of 993 in Ohio. Its age 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 Wooster 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: 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Another post office, Honeytown, 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wooster 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 Wooster Township.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1810s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1900Waterloo Organ Co. (Manufacturers)
1905Library, University of Wooster
1905Kuke Hall, Univ. of Wooster
1905Hoover Cottage, University of Wooster
1905Chapel and Auditorium, University of Wooster
1905Public Library
1905High School
1905Court House
1905Soldiers Monument
1905Main Street
1905City Hall
1907Holden Hall, University of Wooster, OPostcard
1907Holden Hall, University of Wooster, OPostcardFrom Wikipedia’s history of Wooster Township.
Wooster was established in 1808 by John Bever, William Henry, and Joseph Larwill and named after David Wooster, a general in the American Revolutionary War.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveMove of Land Office to
In the archiveUniversity of Wooster, Ohio, organized Dec. 18th 1866, under the auspices of the Presbyte…In the archiveWaterloo Organ Co. (Manufacturers)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wooster Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 291 people in 1810 to 27,232 in 2020, more than tenfold.
22 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wooster Township’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1808, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Wooster Township’s post office opened in 1884, and the census of 1810 counted 291 people here.
Wooster Township is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #614 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.
14% of Wooster Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (11), Wikidata (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
