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History · Tower Hill Township

Tower Hill Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1942 on and the census since 1880.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Tower Hill Township began

When was Tower Hill Township founded?

1857

The Tower Hill Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Westminster (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 391 in 18802020 census: 955169 years
Founding year: the first Tower Hill Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Tower Hill Township’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 Tower Hill Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,040 in 1910; 485 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tower Hill Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tower Hill Township’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
People over time

Tower Hill Township, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,040

Peaked at 1,040 in 1910; 485 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Tower Hill Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tower Hill Township.

Read it all →

Tower Hill was originally surveyed by Elias Smith in June, 1857 and a post office was soon opened. A mill was built in 1863 and was the main source of income for the settlement's economy. Tower Hill was incorporated as a village in 1872.

The large railroad depot in the neighboring city of Shelbyville spurred an increase in population by the turn of the 20th-century.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Tower Hill Township, 1849 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Westminster post office opens
  3. 1857Post officeThe Westminster post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 1,040
  6. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Tower Hill Township on the map, 1942 to 1981

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

Tower Hill Township on the 1942 USGS mapTower Hill Township on the 1981 USGS map1942Shelbyville sheet · 1:62,500

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Tower Hill Township

Nobody well known was born in Tower Hill Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jesse M. DonaldsonAmerican politician · b. 1885
Homer W. HallAmerican politician · b. 1870
Robert Marshall RootAmerican artist · b. 1863
J
Joe AdamsAmerican baseball player · b. 1877
M
Monte CaterAmerican football coach · b. 1924
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Westminster, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Westminster
Gone or out of use
Frogpond SchoolschoolKnobs SchoolschoolMount Pleasant SchoolschoolMount Victory SchoolschoolPalestine SchoolschoolSmith SchoolschoolStandard SchoolschoolSwamp Angel Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Tower Hill Township
EilerKnobs BaptistListonMethodistMiddlesworthSaint Paul

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.

Cold Spring TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRose TownshipIts storyC+Pana Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRural TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPana2 historic placesA

Questions about Tower Hill Township’s history

What year was Tower Hill Township founded?

The Tower Hill Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From 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.