On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harrison Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #177 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Harrison 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 Harrison Township’s 347 sits above most of its state (92% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 470 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.0 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Harrison Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The township, like the county, is named for governor, general and ninth President William Henry Harrison. The majority of land in the township was in his possession in the first decade of the 19th century. He donated a parcel of land for the construction of Corydon and sold much of the rest of his land in the township by 1815 to the settlers who were rapidly occupying the countryside.
Corydon Battle Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Passages that mention Harrison Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Harrison County, Iowa. Containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent1891 · page 258Read the page →
Read the text
The first to effect a settlement in what is now known as Harrison Township were James Welch, Henry Olmstead and Ethel. P. Brown, who came the latter part of 1856 and early part of 1857. Welch came from Indiana and located on the north¬ west quarter of section 33, and commenced improvement, but in the spring of 1857
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
Harrison Township, 1854 to 1934
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 Harrison Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1931Corydon sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Harrison Township.
People over time
Harrison Township, census by census
Grew from 3,537 people in 1890 to 13,469 in 2020, 3 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harrison Township’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Harrison Township 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.
What is on the National Register in Harrison Township?
4 listings: 1 site. 470 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Harrison Township?
12% of Harrison Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
