Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1890.
The Harmony Township post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rapture (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harmony Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age 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 Harmony Township’s 1,509 sits above most of its state (100% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 238 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Harmony Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harmony Township. 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 Harmony Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Harmony Township.
Harmony Township was organized in 1821. A large share of the first settlers being Harmonites caused the name to be selected.
The James Elliott Farm and New Harmony Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Harmony Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
John Turney and Elias Altizer were the first overseers of the poor of the township. Altizer was inspector of electioias before the township was separated from Harmony Township. John Curtis and David Love were constables in 1818, and Frederick Rapp was appointed superintendent of school section for Lynn Township, in March, 1817. James Black built a mill on Big Creek, in Lynn Township near the upper New Harmony and Mount Vernon stage route in 1817. A bridge was built across
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 1,245 and 2,443 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harmony Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Harmony Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Rapture, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Harmony Township post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Harmony Township is more historic than 96% 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.
28% of Harmony Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 Wikipedia, 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.
