Darlington was platted by Enoch Cox in 1836. The city takes its name from Darlington, in England. The post office at Darlington has been in operation since 1837.
The Pennsylvania Railroad (Vandalia district) made stops in Darlington for many years from the late 19th century up until the 1960s. The right-of-way with its numerous wood-pile trestles can still be seen along State Road 47. Many people in Darlington would ride the PRR to Lake Maxinkuckee on weekends during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Vandalia District started southwest of Terre Haute and bisected Montgomery County from Waveland, through Crawfordsville, to Darlington, continuing on to Colfax, where it crossed the NYC Big Four branch.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The date of the father's birth is 1842 and that of the mother's 1849. Here they grew to maturity, received fair educations in the old-time schools and here they were married. The father is still living, making his home in the village of Darlington, the mother having passed away in 1901 at the age of fifty-two years. William H. Custer has devoted his life, for the most part, to general farming, however he was for some time engaged in the grocery and hardware business in Darlington, enjoying a large trade with the people of the
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he has been very successful, being now the owner of a finely improved and productive farm of two hundred and five acres; however, only one hundred and twenty acres are tillable. His land lies just outside the town of Darlington. He has a pleasant home and substantial outbuildings. He handles a good grade of live stock, which he prepares for the market, and this forms no small part of his annual income. He is regarded as one of the most up-to-date general agriculturists in the vicinity of Darlington.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Darlington, 1836 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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