The story
Read it all →How Brown Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Brown Township.
John Linsey Rand House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Brown Township
13% of Brown Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the John Linsey Rand House and the Friendship Stone Arch Bridge. Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1890.
2on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Brown Township’s history
How historic is Brown Township?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Brown Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brown Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brown Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194012.5% of homes (±8.3) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register2 listings, 15.5 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 64%
NewerOlder
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 Brown Township’s 15.5 sits above most of its state (66% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.3 points).
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 →
What stands out about Brown Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Brown Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Brown Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old burying grounds21 cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brown Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Cross Plains
Harts Mills
Buchanans Station
Olean
Benham Store
Friendship
Haney's Corner
Dewberry
Benham
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BenhamCross PlainsDewberryFriendshipOlean
Gone or out of use
Haneys Corner Post Officepost office
21cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brown Township
Akers and FriendshipBassetBeebeBuchananConcordConnellDerringerGordonHyattKlotzsche FamilyMyersNicholsonRiskSaint Pauls ChurchSaint PetersSaint Peters Evangelical LutheranWhithamWilsonWinklerWiseYoung
See all 21
Akers and Friendship Cemetery · Basset Cemetery · Beebe Cemetery · Buchanan Cemetery · Concord Cemetery · Connell Cemetery · Derringer Cemetery · Gordon Cemetery · Hyatt Cemetery · Klotzsche Family Cemetery · Myers Cemetery · Nicholson Cemetery · Risk Cemetery · Saint Pauls Church Cemetery · Saint Peters Cemetery · Saint Peters Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery · Whitham Cemetery · Wilson Cemetery · Winkler Cemetery · Wise Cemetery · Young Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Brown Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brown Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Brown Township, 1826 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1826Post officeThe Cross Plains post office opens
- 1837Post officeThe Harts Mills post office opens
- 1840Post officeThe Buchanans Station post office opens
- 1848Post officeThe Buchanans Station post office closes
- 1868Post officeThe Harts Mills post office closes
- 20th century
- 1959
On 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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Brown Township on the map, 1959 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brown Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1959Cross Plains 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 Brown Township.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Brown Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
John Linsey Rand House
BuildingsStructures
Architectural styles listings
Italianate1
All 2 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Brown Township, census by census
Between 1,313 and 1,850 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brown Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Brown Township
Nobody well known was born in Brown Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
W
William JordanAmerican actor · b. 1937
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Johnson Township6 historic placesA−Washington TownshipIts storyC+Caesar Creek Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townShelby Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant TownshipIts storyB−Shelby TownshipIts storyC−Pike TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClay TownshipIts storyB−
Questions about Brown Township’s history
How does Brown Township rank for history?
Brown Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Brown Township?
Two places: the John Linsey Rand House (listed 1994) and the Friendship Stone Arch Bridge (2019).
How old are the homes in Brown Township?
13% of Brown Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1993.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.