Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #251 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Log Cabin Inn Tourist Camp. Below: maps from 1951 on.
Benton Township dates its founding to 1832 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1835.
Benton Township was named in honor of politician Thomas Hart Benton.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Benton Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #251 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Benton Township’s 12.4 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Benton Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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).
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 SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Benton Township.
Benton was platted in 1832. It was named in honor of politician Thomas Hart Benton.
The railroad was built through Benton in 1892. A post office was established at Benton in 1835, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1963.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings 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 Benton 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 Benton 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 Benton Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1832, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Benton Township’s post office opened in 1835.
Benton Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #251 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 Log Cabin Inn Tourist Camp (listed 2019).
13% of Benton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1992.
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) 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.
