Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #447 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Baugo Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1958 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Baugo Township is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #447 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Baugo Township’s 1.1 sits near the middle of its state (46% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Baugo Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Baugo Township.
Baugo Township was named from the Baugo Creek, which is derived from the Indian name Baubaugo, meaning "devil river".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Baugo Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
range 5 east and south of the St. Joseph River be set apart and known by the name of Baugo Township." It therefore comprised that strip of country, three miles wide, on the western edge of the county, where now are seen three townships, and during the first years the fractions of the townships now in St. Joseph County were attached to Baugo Township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Olive Township Erected Two more townships remained to be formed. Under date of November 5, 1839, the commissioners directed that "fractional township 36 north, range 4 east, be set off from Baugo Township, it now being a part thereof," and named Olive. Locke Township, Last Formed Locke Township, the little division in the extreme southwest corner of the county, was the last to be formed, and it had a some-
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Baugo Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Baugo Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Baugo Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Bango, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Baugo Township is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #447 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.
One place: the Baugo Township Gymnasium (listed 2016).
6% of Baugo Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
