Greenwood’s post office opened in 1833, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #308 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Greenwood was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 312 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
The Greenwood post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Greenfield (1828) and Stones Crossing (1874), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 448 in 18802020 census: 63,830193 years
How historic is Greenwood?
B+
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Greenwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Greenwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenwood is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #308 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Greenwood’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 Greenwood’s 47.7 sits above most of its state (74% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 315 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±0.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Greenwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first inhabitants of the area currently known as Greenwood were the Delaware Indians (Lenape). In 1818, the Treaty of St. Mary's opened central Indiana to European American settlement, and by 1823 the first cabin in northern Johnson County was erected by settlers John B. and Isaac Smock on land now occupied by Greenwood Park Mall. Greenwood was first known as "Smocktown" or "Smock's Settlement" in honor of the Smock brothers, and became "Greenfield" in 1825. Since this clashed with another Greenfield located in Hancock County, the name of the settlement was changed to "Greenwood" in 1833.
Greenwood was incorporated as a town under Indiana law in 1864.
Greenwood Lee, from the time of its construction, passed down through an unbroken succession of generations of Greenwood owners until 1642, when it passed out of Greenwood possession.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in England since that time. After Wyomarus had established his home in the forest at Heptonstall, and a little settlement of his descendants was made there, he became known as Wyomarus de Greenwod (Wyomarus of Greenwood). The children and descendants of Wyomarus also took similar names and were known as Bartram de Greenwod (Bartram of Greenwood), Robert de Greenwod (Robert of Greenwood) and so on, and the old public records of Heptonstall show that it was nearly as late as the year
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.
Timeline
Greenwood, 1828 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenwood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Greenwood 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 Greenwood.
Every building
Greenwood, building by building, 1902–1930
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.
The Greenwood post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Greenwood rank for history?
Greenwood is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #308 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 Greenwood?
Three places: the Greenwood Commercial Historic District (listed 1991), the Greenwood Residential Historic District (2017) and the Bagby-Doub Farmstead (2021).
How old are the homes in Greenwood?
2% of Greenwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1996.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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