Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1960 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin Township is more historic than 66% 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 Franklin 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 Franklin Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Franklin Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Franklin Township is one of eleven townships in Randolph County, Indiana. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,124 (down from 1,265 at 2010) and it contained 540 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,265 to 1,124 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Franklin Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
__ John Foust had a saw-mill and corn-cracker in about 1856, in Franklin Township, just at the township line, on Mississinewa, which stood five or six years. Cyrus A. Reed had a saw-mill one mile above Fairview. It was built about 1850, and stood perhaps ten years.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Travis Adcock. At any rate, he made the first land entry in that township, 1814, and he was residing there at a very early date. : The first settler in Franklin Township was Meshach Lewallyn, during the summer of 1817. The first framed bridge (probably) was made over White River north, toward Deerfield.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin Township.
1960Ridgeville sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Franklin Township.
Nobody well known was born in Franklin Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Franklin Township is more historic than 66% 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.
45% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.