Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1860.
Hartsville dates its founding to 1832 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1860.
Hartsville was named for Gideon B. Hart, a pioneer settler.
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 Hartsville’s history is told.
Peaked at 486 in 1880; 317 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hartsville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hartsville.
Hartsville was founded in 1832. It was named for Gideon B. Hart, a pioneer settler. The first post office at Hartsville was established in 1838.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hartsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
HartsviUc College. — On the third day of April, 1847, the voters of district No. 7, Haw Creek Township, Bartholomew County, Ind., met at their school house in the town of Hartsville, " and after cliscussing the matter at some length, the}^ concluded to build a new school-house for said district." The building; was to be of wood, 25x50 feet, and two stories high, and to be located in the center of the public square, in the town of Hartsville, and when completed, to be used for school purposes, for religious worship,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Rogers who lives in Hartsville and has just celebrated her one hundredth anniversary. The first school at Hope was taught by L. J. Levering, about the year 1830. Tlie Hon. Thomas Essex, who has been already mentioned, began teaching in this township soon after the last date, and continued for a number of years. He was an excellent teacher and did much to inspire in his pupils a desire to live noble, patriotic and useful Hves. Philip Essex, one of the early settlers and teachers in this part of the country, no doubt
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.
In the archiveImage from page 222 of "Centennial history and handbook of Indiana - the story of the sta…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hartsville. 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 Hartsville.
Nobody well known was born in Hartsville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1832, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hartsville’s post office opened in 1838, and the census of 1860 counted 187 people here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.
2016
