Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #137 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 751 buildings. Below: 22 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1850.
Goshen dates its founding to 1831 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Goshen is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #137 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Goshen’s 221 sits above most of its state (89% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 760 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% 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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1911The canal
1911High school
1911Hotel Hascall
1911Spohn block
1911Presbyterian Church
1911Public library
1911Jefferson block
1911First Methodist Church
1911First Baptist Church
1911English Lutheran Church
1911So. Fifth St
1911So. Sixth St
1911South Sixth Street
1911Elkhart River Dam
1911A charming vista, near Goshen, IndDrag across each photo to compare.
1911TodayFrom Wikipedia’s history of Goshen.
Before the arrival of white colonists, the land that is today Goshen, Indiana, had been populated by Native Americans, specifically the Miami people, the Peoria people, and Potawatomi peoples, for thousands of years. In 1830, the US Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, requiring all indigenous people to relocate west of the Mississippi River.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Goshen, cut from the printed page as they were published.
(From our ow n Reporter)* Goshen, Wednesday, June 2-1, 1881. The good town of Goshen, high on the hills of Western Hampshire, celebrated, to-day, with appropriate observances, the 100th anniversary of its municipal existence, and a right joyous occasion it has been, an anniversary significant with much of historic interest. Coming here, to-day, to liud banners, music, a procession, an assemblage of thousands, well-prepared addresses, and a royal feast
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
.-. . . Your very kind invitation to all persons interested in your beautiful town, either by residence, marriage, descent or otherwise, to participate in the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of her incorporation, is received. 1 am u otherwise " interested in Goshen, mainly through my respect and esteem for your chairman, and I regret that 1 shall be unable to witness your festivities. May the success of your celebration be unrivalled, and may the town of Goshen enter, under the happiest auspices, upon her second century.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
After the war Captain Wells, an old railroad man, and Joseph H. Defrees organized a new railroad company for the purpose of pushing a railroad north and south through Goshen. It was known as the Goshen, Warsaw and Wabash Railroad and was put in operation in 1870. The line, as originally planned, would have run through Middlebury to White Pigeon, skirting the southern part of the county and crossing the Baltimore and Ohio and the Wabash railroads. This line is now a part of the Big Four system
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to the railroad company to establish a station where the woodshed stood, and as a result a side track and platform afforded the shippers from the south an outlet for their products without the necessity of going to Bristol or Goshen. Thenceforward, until the railroad was built to Middlebury, Vistula was practically the railroad station for her southern neighbor. About 1845 the depot was moved to its present location, and William Bilhngs took charge as the first station agent in its new location. As Middlebury Station
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 hereJames Carew is born hereBuiltGoshen Carnegie Public Library is built
In the archiveGoshen, Ind., dedication, Rogers Band ParkIn the archiveThe canal
Born herePhilip Proctor is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereKate Bolduan is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Goshen. 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 Goshen.
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.
1886Sheet 4 of 12Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Grew from 780 people in 1850 to 34,517 in 2020, more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Goshen’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Goshen’s post office has been open since 1832.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1831, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Goshen’s post office opened in 1832, and the census of 1850 counted 780 people here.
Goshen is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #137 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.
7 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Elkhart County Courthouse (listed 1980, the first), 1 historic district, the Goshen Historic Distriict, with 751 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 760 historic buildings in all.
18% of Goshen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1980.
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), the Library of Congress (21), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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, 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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