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History · East Germantown

East Germantown’s post office opened in 1846, and 63% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1860.

1846first post office
0on the National Register
63%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How East Germantown began

When was East Germantown founded?

1846

The East Germantown post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 465 in 18602020 census: 261180 years
Founding year: the first East Germantown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about East Germantown’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of East Germantown are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of East Germantown’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 536 in 1870; 261 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1846: 180 years of East Germantown.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start East Germantown’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How East Germantown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of East Germantown.

Read it all →

East Germantown was originally called Georgetown, and under the latter name was laid out and platted in 1827.

The East Germantown Civil War Band was assigned to the 12th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1862.

A post office operated from March 31, 1846, until August 4, 1917, under the name of East Germantown, when its name officially changed to Pershing due to events surrounding World War I.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

East Germantown, census by census

0100200300400500600190019502000Peak: 536

Peaked at 536 in 1870; 261 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Timeline

East Germantown, 1846 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe East Germantown post office opens
  3. 1870CensusPopulation peaks at 536
  4. 20th century
  5. 1917Post officeThe East Germantown post office closes
  6. 1917Post officeThe Pershing post office opens
  7. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

East Germantown on the map, 1960 to 1981

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

East Germantown on the 1960 USGS mapEast Germantown on the 1981 USGS map1960Cambridge City 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 East Germantown.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

East Germantown had its own post office from 1846 to 1917.

East Germantown
1846–1917
Pershing
1917–today
18401930today

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

Questions about East Germantown’s history

What year was East Germantown founded?

The East Germantown post office opened in 1846, 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 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.