History · Elmore

Elmore’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Elmore. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
1historic places
6recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

Elmore is located in what used to be known as the Black Swamp, a sprawling area of marsh that covered the majority of northwest Ohio, and was primarily inhabited by Native Americans until the 19th century. It is believed that the Portage River, which runs alongside the village, most likely derives its name from early explorers who were forced to portage or carry their canoes and boats around the river's intermittent shallows and rapids. German settlers during the first half of the 1800s began the long process of draining the land and clear cutting the dense forest exposing the nutrient rich soil, which, along with a once thriving railroad, provided the foundation for the village’s early growth and development. Elmore was surveyed and platted on October 2, 1851. The land surrounding Elmore is tabletop flat. Several sawmills in the vicinity provided the badly needed "planks" (boards) for …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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National Register of Historic Places

1 historic place in Elmore

1 place in Elmore is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

#433
In Ohioby listings · most towns there have none
1place listed1 other
0National Historic LandmarksNone here yet
0historic buildings protectedcounting each building in a district
1994first listedOhio State Route 51 Bridge Over the Portage River

Where they are

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Structures

When they were listed

The Register began in 1966.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places (05/22/2026) · styles from the National Archives catalog · photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history

From Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01