Rawson, OH

Rawson is a Hancock County village laid out in 1855 when the railroad reached the area. The 2020 census counted 567 residents. The village was named for L. Q. Rawson, president of the Fremont and Indiana Railroad, and incorporated in 1884. Tracks established the town's first business pattern, while farm roads connected it to the smaller communities and fields of western Hancock County. The line also placed Rawson inside the county's early grain and passenger network.

Rawson village government, the fire service, local churches, and surrounding farms shape the present-day community. The railroad history remains visible in the village's compact street pattern, even as cars and county roads now carry most daily movement. Findlay and other Hancock County centers provide larger shopping, employment, and medical connections, while Rawson keeps its own municipal address and local events. The village is a farm-country place with a railroad beginning, a short main street, and a long memory of the line that put it on the map.