Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #27 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 67 buildings. Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1890.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Center Township is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #27 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 inputs put Center Township near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.
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 Center Township’s 307 sits above most of its state (92% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 88 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% 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 Center Township’s history is told.
Three 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).
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Center Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Center Township is one of six townships in Union County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,898 and it contained 1,315 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,048 to 2,898 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Center Township.
1986Dayton sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Center Township.
Between 2,159 and 3,048 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Center Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Center Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Center Township is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #27 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.
3 listings: 1 historic district, the Liberty Residential Historic District, with 67 contributing buildings. 88 historic buildings in all.
32% of Center Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1961.
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), 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.
