Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the New Hope Bridge. Below: maps from 1947 on.
Flat Rock Township dates its founding to 1855 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1853.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Flat Rock Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Flat Rock Township’s 6.9 sits near the middle of its state (58% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Flat Rock Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Nortonburgh, 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 Flat Rock Township.
Flat Rock was platted in 1855. It took its name from the Flatrock River. Its post office has operated since 1828.
It had its own high school, Flat Rock High School, which operated from 1893 until its closure in 1958 when the community became part of the Southwestern Consolidated School Corporation of Shelby County.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Flat Rock 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 Flat Rock Township.
The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Flat Rock Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1855, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Flat Rock Township’s post office opened in 1853.
Flat Rock Township is more historic than 67% 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.
One place: the New Hope Bridge (listed 1999).
32% of Flat Rock Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.6 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
