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History · Duck Creek Township

34% of Duck Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1870.

0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Duck Creek Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Duck Creek Township’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 12,950 in 1900; 8,410 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Duck Creek Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Duck Creek Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWillkie Notification Ceremony 1940 (cro…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Duck Creek Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 12,950

Peaked at 12,950 in 1900; 8,410 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story

How Duck Creek Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Duck Creek Township.

Read it all →

Elwood was laid out in 1853 under the name "Duck Creek". It was incorporated as a city in 1891.

A post office was established under the name "Duck Creek" in 1855, was renamed to Elwood in 1869, and has been operating since. The first railroad was constructed in Elwood in 1857.

ChaptersSundown town

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Duck Creek Township, 1888 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Leisure post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 12,950
  5. 1903Post officeThe Leisure post office closes
  6. 1940In the archiveWillkie Notification Ceremony 1940 (cropped1)
  7. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Duck Creek Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s2 items
Willkie Notification Ceremony 1940 (cropped1)1940Willkie Notification Ceremony 1940 (cropped1)Willkie Notification Ceremony 19401940Willkie Notification Ceremony 1940
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Elwood, Indiana2012Elwood, IndianaElwood, Frankton, and Alexandria, Indiana2012Elwood, Frankton, and Alexandria, IndianaA and Anderson in Elwood2011A and Anderson in Elwood
On the map

Duck Creek Township on the map, 1960 to 1986

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

Duck Creek Township on the 1960 USGS mapDuck Creek Township on the 1986 USGS map1960Elwood 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 Duck Creek Township.

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.

Willkie Notification Ceremony 1940 (cropped1)
Retake this viewWillkie Notification Ceremony 1940 (cropped1), 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, Leisure, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
College CornerLeisure
1cemetery inside Duck Creek Township
Waymire

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Boone TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPipe Creek Township1 historic placeAGreen TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMadison TownshipIts storyBWildcat TownshipIts storyB

Questions about Duck Creek Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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, 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.