Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Farmersburg dates its founding to 1853 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Farmersburg is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. 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 Farmersburg’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: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Farmersburg’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Farmersburg.
Farmersburg was founded in 1853 under the name Ascension. A post office was established under this name in 1855, and was renamed to Farmersburg in 1882. The post office is still currently operating.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Farmersburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Farmersburg as a business and population center originated with the building of the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad. James Cummins and George Hopewell laid out the village in 1853 on forty acres of land which lay west of the railroad. The founding of the Ascension Seminary here just before the war was the principal institution of the town, and the basis of its growth and prosperity. The word Ascension was used to designate the place quite as often as Farmersburg. Heap and Crawford laid out an addition to the village east of the railroad, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first railroad in -the county was put in operation in 1854. The following" year an advertisement in the Democrat mentions the first practical coal mine in the county, the property of Hanchett & Kelly, of Farmersburg. This enterprising firm took the coal from a bank several miles from the railroad, and in order to obviate the transportation by wagon from mine to railroad, they built in the latter part of 1855 a wooden railroad, of a three-foot gauge, over the three miles to Farmersburg. Their cars were each of twenty-five bushels capacity, and it was
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Farmersburg. 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 Farmersburg.
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.
1913Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 237 and 1,240 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Farmersburg’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Farmersburg itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Ascension, 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.
In 1853, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Farmersburg’s post office opened in 1855, and the census of 1880 counted 237 people here.
Farmersburg is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. 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.
28% of Farmersburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.8 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, 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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