Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Deer Creek Township is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #417 of 593 in Indiana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Deer Creek Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Deer Creek Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Deer Creek Township.
Deer Creek Township was organized in 1845. Deer Creek takes its name from the stream that flows a westerly course through the center of the township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Deer Creek Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Jacob Coucher and wife, James Dabney and wife, Andrew Cunningham and wife, Benjamin Fish and others. The first house of worship, erected in the year 1S55, and known as the Railroad Chapel, stood near the Deer Creek Township line, and ser\cd as a meeting place until 1869, at which time it was abandoned and the society moved to the village. The present beautiful brick edifice on the corner of Elm and Broadway streets was built slome time in the above 3'ear at a cost of about $2,000. It will
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Deer Creek 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 Deer Creek Township.
Nobody well known was born in Deer Creek Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Bennett's Switch, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Deer Creek Township is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #417 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.
19% of Deer Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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