Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #177 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 925 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1880.
Garrett dates its founding to 1875 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
Garrett was named for John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from 1858 to 1884.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Garrett is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #177 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold 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 Garrett’s 1,402 sits above most of its state (99% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 931 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% 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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garrett’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Garrett.
Garrett was platted in 1875 when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was extended to that point. It was named for John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from 1858 to 1884. Garrett was incorporated as a city in 1875.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Garrett, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Trestle number two hundred was at the bottom of the incline of the Garrett coal chutes, which was filled in 1881. There were over three miles of trestles between Chicago Junction and Garrett, and over six miles west of Garrett, the largest trestle being west of Garrett. Number two hundred and ninety, about four miles west of Bremen, was known as the Big Marsh trestle. This trestle was three thousand eight hundred and thirty-two feet long, and contained three hundred and nineteen pile trestles. Four piles were dri\en for each trestle. This trestle was filled in 1882 with sand out of the pit on the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
work in the William Cramp & Son's ship yards, the largest concern in that line in the country. In June, 1864, he returned to DeKalb county, but two years later he again went to Philadelphia, where he resided until September, 1875. He then came to DeKalb county, locating in the new town of Garrett, which had just been founded on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad line, and in January, 1876, Mr. Skilling was appointed marshal of the new town. In November of the same year he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, with which he served in various positions, chiefly in the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mountjoy Bayley, appointed by the Governor for that purpose, sold, April IG, 1792, the State's lands west of Fort Cumberland, which embraced a large part of Garrett County.' In the fall and winter of 1875 a movement was made to create another county by a division of Garrett. Two public meetings were 1 The history of these lands will be found at the end of the chapter on the war of the Kcvolut on.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The growing town of Oakland, the county-seat of Garrett, is two hundred and thirty-two miles from Baltimore, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It is located on the summit of a plateau of the Allegany Mountains, two thousand three hundred and seventytwo feet above tide-water, and its atmosphere is noted for purity and healthfulness. The neighboring streams abound with trout, and the surrounding mountains
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.
Born hereJohn Bowers is born here
Born hereLouis William Tordella is born here
In the archiveExtemporaneous remarks from rear platform of special train at Garrett, Indiana
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Garrett. 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 Garrett.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Garrett’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,268 people in 1880 to 6,542 in 2020, 5 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Garrett’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1875, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Garrett’s post office opened in 1875, and the census of 1880 counted 1,268 people here.
Garrett is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #177 of 593 in Indiana. 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Mountz House (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Garrett Historic District, with 925 contributing buildings. 931 historic buildings in all.
31% of Garrett’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1974.
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 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.
