Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #280 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Eli Sigler House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1880.
Hebron dates its founding to 1841 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hebron is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #280 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Hebron’s 2.5 sits near the middle of its state (49% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Hebron’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveGrand Opera House Fire, September 16, 1912 - Hebron, Indiana - Flickr - Shook Photos
Born hereJohnny Mantz is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Hebron.
The first settler to Hebron was Judge Jesse Johnson (1st Judge of the Porter County Probate Court. The area of Hebron was an open prairie interspersed with small groves of trees. The prairie was about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long by 0.75 miles (1.21 km) wide. About 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south was the Potawatomi village of Hauakiki. Locally the village was called "Indian Town."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hebron, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That said town of Oxford shall pay to said town of Hebron the arrears of all taxes which have been legally assessed together with their proportion of all debts due from and assessments which may have been voted by said town of Hebron, at the time of the passing of this Act ; such proportion to be ascertained by reference to the last valuation of said town of Hebron.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
We, the subscribers, a committee for and in behalf of the town of Hebron, represent that the local situation of the town of Hebron is such as to disommode the inhabitants in transacting their business, by reason of its great length, and no convenient center, wherefore your Petioners pray that said town of Hebron may be divided by Mattews pond and streams so called agreeable to a vote of said town in a legal meeting for that purpose, held the 22d day of Dec. 1828.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ganized in July, 1838, by a minister named Hannan, and after a few years the old school house was abandoned and the churcii building used for school purposes. In 1840 a second school house was built about a mile and a half southwest of the present town of Hebron. It was also a log structure, about 18 by 20 feet in size. The third school hou.se in the township was built on the northeast corner of section 15, township 33, range 7, in 1842, and Mary Grossman was the first teacher. Two years later the building was burned. Some of the early teachers were Ellen
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Uailroad Company, which operates a double track line through tlie township, entering on the east two miles south of the northern Ijoundary mid running due west to Hebron, where it turns northwest and eiosses the west line of the county one mile north of Hebron. Aylesworth is a flag station on this road, four miles east of Hebron, and with the exception of a small portion of the southwest corner, no part of the township is more than three miles from the railroad. There are over twenty miles of macadamized road
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2009Main Street, Looking North, circa 1910Postcard
2009Main Street, Looking North, 1915Postcard
2009Main Street, Looking North, 1912Postcard
2009Main Street, Looking North, 1910Postcard
2009Main Street, 1952Postcard
2009Main Street, 1909Postcard
2009Lover's Lane, 1913Postcard
2009Kouts-Hebron Tornado, May 26, 1917Postcard
2009Kouts-Hebron Tornado, May 26, 1917Postcard
2009Hebron Public School, 1952Postcard
2009Hebron Public School, 1915Postcard
2009Hebron Methodist Church, 1952Postcard
2009Hebron High SchoolPostcard
2009Greetings from Hebron, circa 1910Postcard
2009Greetings from Hebron, 1947Postcard
2009First Christian Church, 1952Postcard
2009Farm and Horses inPostcard
2009Cyclone View, May 26, 1917Postcard
2009Christian Church, 1924Postcard
2009Christian Church, 1907Postcard
2008Pan Handle Railroad DepotPostcard
2008Multiviews ofPostcard
2007Threshing, 1910Postcard
2007Threshing, 1910Postcard
2007St. Helen's Catholic Church, 1952Postcard
2007Pond Lillies on the Kankakee River, circa 1910Postcard
2007Hebron Public School, 1921Postcard
2007Hebron Public Library, 1952Postcard
2007Greetings from Hebron, 1913Postcard
2007Boy Scout Cabin, 1952Postcard
2006Pickerel Fishing on Kankakee River, 1908Postcard
2006Cyclone View, May 26, 1917Postcard
2006Cyclone View, May 26, 1917Postcard
2003Hebron High School, 1914PostcardEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hebron. 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 Hebron.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hebron’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 715 people in 1880 to 3,755 in 2020, 5 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hebron’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Hebron’s post office has been open since 1843.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1841, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hebron’s post office opened in 1843, and the census of 1880 counted 715 people here.
Hebron is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #280 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.
One place: the Eli Sigler House (listed 2011).
17% of Hebron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 Wikimedia Commons (35), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
