A history of Delaware,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Delaware from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusDelaware Township is one of the twelve townships of Defiance County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 2,030 people in the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,134 to 2,030 (-5%). Half of its homes were built before 1968.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Delaware yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Delaware’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewDepartment of German and residenc…, 1900: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Delaware
See all 15 →
Delaware, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Delaware is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Delaware has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Dey Road Bridge in Defiance, 6.5 miles away.
Delaware and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Department of German and residence of Professor Davies, Ohio Wesleyan University (1900) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom the Library of Congress (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.