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History · Claypool

Claypool’s post office opened in 1841, and 57% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1961 on, and the census since 1900.

1841first post office

0on the National Register

57%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

1famous people

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From Claypool’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Claypool began

When was Claypool founded?

1841

The Claypool post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 399 in 19002020 census: 396185 years

Founding year: the first Claypool post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Claypool’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Claypool’s homes were built before 1938.Deep rootsA post office since 1841: 185 years of Claypool.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Claypool’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Claypool’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewClaypool-indiana-from-above: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Claypool came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Claypool.

Read it all →

Claypool was platted in 1873. The post office at Claypool has been in operation since 1841.

Claypool was previously an important rail transportation hub because it was located at the junction of the Big Four and the Nickel Plate railroad lines.

Claypool is the hometown of two of Indiana's basketball greats, Judi Warren, who became the first Indiana Miss Basketball in 1976, and Kevin Ault, Indiana Mr. Basketball of 1996. Both played for Warsaw Community High School. Judi Warren was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

The town was also notable for the controversial local house church established for a time in the 1970s by Hobart Freeman.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Claypool, 1841 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1841Post officeThe Claypool post office opens
1873Born hereCary D. Landis is born here
20th century
1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

From the old history books

What they wrote about Claypool in 1919

Passages that mention Claypool, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Alter their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cauffman lived twelve years on a farm two and one half miles east of Claypool. They then moved into the village of Claypool and he worked there and in the vicinity until the spring of 1900, when he bought the old homestead, and his capable management of this farm o… — **A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana**1919Read the page →
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Alter their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cauffman lived twelve years on a farm two and one half miles east of Claypool. They then moved into the village of Claypool and he worked there and in the vicinity until the spring of 1900, when he bought the old homestead, and his capable management of this farm of eighty-nine acres has given him his most solid prosperity.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cauffman lived twelve years on a farm two and one half miles east of Claypool. They then moved into the village of Claypool and he worked there and in the vicinity until the spring of 1900, when he bought the old homestead, and his capable management of this farm o… — **A Standard History of Kosciusko County Indiana**1919 · page 622Read the page →
Read the text
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cauffman lived twelve years on a farm two and one half miles east of Claypool. They then moved into the village of Claypool and he worked there and in the vicinity until the spring of 1900, when he bought the old homestead, and his capable management of this farm of eighty-nine acres has given him his most solid prosperity.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**A Standard History of Kosciusko County Indiana**1919 · page 624Read the page →
Read the text
Jacos O. Deaton. Clay Township, the village of Claypool, and all that section of Kosciusko County have in many ways been impressed by the abilities and influence of the Deaton family, who have lived here over half a century. Few names recur more frequently in the annals of that locality.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana**1919Read the page →
Read the text
Jacob 0. Deaton. Clay Township, the village of Claypool, and all that section of Kosciusko County have in many waj's been impressed by the abilities and influence of ihe Deaton famil.y, who have lived here over half a centur\'. Few names recur more frequently in the annals of that locality.
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.

By decade

Claypool, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date

Date?Claypool-indiana-from-above

Today4 recent

2013Jackson Township, IN, USA

2013Jackson Township, IN, USA - panoramio (3)

2013Jackson Township, IN, USA - panoramio (2)

2013Jackson Township, IN, USA - panoramio (1)

On the map

Claypool on the map, 1961 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Claypool. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1961Burket sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Claypool.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewClaypool-indiana-from-above

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Claypool’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Claypool, census by census

Between 311 and 468 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Claypool’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Claypool’s history

What year was Claypool founded?

The Claypool post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.

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