Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1824.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Greencastle Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greencastle Township is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #104 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.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Greencastle Township’s overall grade.
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 Greencastle Township’s 425 sits above most of its state (94% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 540 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points). Two sources give 1821.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
What stands out about Greencastle Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Greencastle was founded in 1821 by Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Greencastle was a village or town operating under authority of the Putnam County commissioners until March 9, 1849, when it became a town by special act of the local legislature. Greencastle, Indiana, officially became a city after an election held on July 8, 1861. The first mayor of Greencastle was E. R. Kercheval, a member of the Freemason Temple Lodge #47. The city became the county seat of Putnam County.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings 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 Greencastle Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958Greencastle sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Greencastle Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewBirds eye view of Greencastle, Indiana, 1886, 1886
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Greencastle Township’s page.
In 1821, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Greencastle Township’s post office opened in 1824, and the census of 1850 counted 1,382 people here.
How does Greencastle Township rank for history?
Greencastle Township is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #104 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.
What is on the National Register in Greencastle Township?
14 listings: 1 building, among them the Alfred Hirt House (listed 1991, the first), 1 site, and 1 structure. 540 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Greencastle Township?
22% of Greencastle Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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