The story
Read it all →How Cedar Creek Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cedar Creek Township.
The Buckley Homestead was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Cedar Creek Township
6 of Cedar Creek Township’s places are on the National Register
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #305 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Cedar Creek Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1890.
6on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Cedar Creek Township’s history
How historic is Cedar Creek Township?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Cedar Creek Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cedar Creek Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #305 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cedar Creek Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraAge sits out for Cedar Creek Township: no founding date holds up well enough to grade on–Homes built before 19408.7% of homes (±4.3) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register6 listings, 40 historic buildings, 30.8 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 67%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 49%
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 Cedar Creek Township’s 30.8 sits above most of its state (70% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 40 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 (±4.3 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 Cedar Creek 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 Cedar Creek Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Cedar Creek Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cedar Creek Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cedar Creek Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Orchard Grove, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Orchard Grove
Shelby
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lake DalecarliaOrchard GroveShelby
Gone or out of use
Shelby Elementary Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cedar Creek Township
CrestonOrchard Grove
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the National Register
6 listings protect 40 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
40
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Buckley Homestead
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Cedar Creek Township in 1915
Passages that mention Cedar Creek Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 141Read the page →
Read the text
it was completed through the southwestern and western portions of the county in 1882. The station itself is in West Creek Township, but quite a number of families Avhich form the settlement reside over the line in Cedar Creek Township. It is situated about a mile south of Red Cedar Lake and half a mile west of the early center, where in 1849 or 1850 there was a store, a postoffiee. a IJacksmith shop and a schoolhouse. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 134Read the page →
Read the text
Cedar Creek Township attained its present form and area when, iu 1839, the original South Township was divided into the three townships whose names were determined by the long creeks which flow from the central sections of the county southward into the Kankakee River. The larger portion of Cedar Creek Township lies south of Center, and most of its southern half is included in what is known as the Kankakee Region. Among the famous islands in that region are Fuller's and South, and the Griesel Ditch, which has done so much to drain the
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.
Timeline
Cedar Creek Township, 1854 to 1953
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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
Cedar Creek Township on the map, 1953 to 1992
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cedar Creek Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Lowell 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 Cedar Creek Township.
People over time
Cedar Creek Township, census by census
Grew from 1,691 people in 1890 to 12,725 in 2020, 7 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cedar Creek Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Cedar Creek Township
Nobody well known was born in Cedar Creek Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
West Creek TownshipIts storyC+Lincoln TownshipIts storyDShelbyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEagle Creek Township1 historic placeB−Center Township9 historic placesB+Cedar Lake2 historic placesC+Lake TownshipIts storyC−Lake DalecarliaIts storyB−Sumava ResortsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Cedar Creek Township’s history
How does Cedar Creek Township rank for history?
Cedar Creek Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #305 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.
What is on the National Register in Cedar Creek Township?
6 listings: 1 building, among them the Buckley Homestead (listed 1984, the first). 40 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Cedar Creek Township?
9% of Cedar Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.