Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #459 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Nicholson-Rand House. Most of Decatur Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 24 old photos and papers, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1890.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Decatur Township is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #459 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Decatur Township’s 0.3 sits near the middle of its state (44% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1935The Adams County courthouse
1935The Erie Railroad depot
1935The Pennsylvania Railroad depot
1935The Nickle Plate Railroad depot
1935Post office and public library
1935Rice Hotel, 3rd St. and Madison St
1935Public high school
1935Erie tracks and U.S. Highway No. 27 at Decatur, India…
1936Number 1 home
1936Interior of homestead at Decatur Homesteads. Decatur,…
1936Among first homesteaders at Decatur Homesteads
1936Outskirts of Decatur, Indiana, near the Decatur Homes…
1936A homesteader at Decatur, Indiana, with a garden trac…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Interior of home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Among first home…
1936Homestead children coming home from school
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Homestead childr…Another post office, Valley Mills, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Decatur Township.
The township was settled in the 1820s by mostly Quakers from South Carolina. They settled along the banks of the White River. West Newton is a small Quaker-settled town inside the township. Many of today's residents can trace their lineages back to these early settlers.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveThe Adams County courthouse
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Decatur Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Decatur Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Decatur Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Grew from 1,555 people in 1890 to 36,951 in 2020, more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Decatur Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Decatur Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Decatur Township is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #459 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.
One place: the Nicholson-Rand House (listed 2003).
5% of Decatur Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 Library of Congress (24), 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) 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.
