Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #326 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1870.
Alexandria dates its founding to 1836 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alexandria is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #326 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Indiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Indiana town has 7.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Alexandria’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alexandria’s history is told.
Peaked at 7,221 in 1900; 5,149 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Alexandria’s Wikipedia page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1892Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Alexandria.
Alexandria was platted in 1836, when it was certain that the Indiana Central Canal would be extended to that point. It was incorporated as a town in 1898.
In 1898, Indiana's first Interurban railway line began operating between Alexandria and Anderson.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Alexandria, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Alexandria is twelve miles north of Anderson, located on Pipe creek, in a fine part of the county. It contains some fine business rooms, a brick church, school house and an excellent grist mill.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This house is located five miles northwest of Alexandria. The society that meets at this house is the Methodist, the organization of which dates back to 1838. The society first met in private houses ; then in a log school house up to the year 1850, when the present house was built. This house is thirty-eight by forty-eight and cost twelve hundred dollars. Among the first members composing this society were : Samuel McMahan, David Osburn, Wright Smith,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveOriginal 1897 rock wool plant
In the archiveBeulah Park Swimming Pool, Alexandria, Indiana (74010)
Born hereBill Gaither is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJoey Feek is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alexandria.
1960Alexandria sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Alexandria.
No 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 Alexandria’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Alexandria’s post office has been open since 1837.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1836, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Alexandria’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1870 counted 287 people here.
Alexandria is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #326 of 593 in Indiana. 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.
20% of Alexandria’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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