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A−History
History · Hobart

Hobart’s post office opened in 1847, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #230 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 38 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1880.

1847first post office
5on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
13famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hobart’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hobart began

When was Hobart founded?

1847

The Hobart post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1889. Another post office, Ainsworth (1882), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 600 in 18802020 census: 29,752179 years

How historic is Hobart?

A−

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Hobart post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1889.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Hobart’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hobart is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #230 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hobart’s overall grade.
Founding era1847, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194013.0% of homes (±2.7) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register5 listings, 43 historic buildings, 14.5 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 80%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 61%

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 Hobart’s 14.5 sits above most of its state (66% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 43 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1889.

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 Hobart’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Hobart Commercial District takes in 38 historic buildings.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1895 to 1922, drew every building in Hobart.Deep rootsA post office since 1847: 179 years of Hobart.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hobart’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hobart’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view4th Street: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

5 listings protect 43 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
43
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Hobart Carnegie Library
Hobart Carnegie LibraryPennsylvania Railroad StationFirst Unitarian Church of HobartHobart Commercial DistrictHobart First Methodist Episcopal Church
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Tudor Revival1
Late Victorian1
Italianate1
Hobart Carnegie LibraryTudor Revival
Pennsylvania Railroad StationBuilding
First Unitarian Church of HobartLate Victorian
Hobart Commercial DistrictDistrict
Hobart First Methodist Episcopal ChurchBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Every building

Hobart, building by building, 1895–1922

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.

Hobart fire insurance map, 1895, sheet 11895Sheet 1 of 4
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Hobart came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hobart.

Read it all →

Hobart was platted in 1849. George Earle, an English immigrant, bought land from the Potawatomi Native American tribe, who built a dam on Deep River, creating Lake George. He named the settlement that later developed into Hobart, after his brother, Frederick Hobart Earle, who never left England. The first school of the city was built in 1878.

Hobart was incorporated as a town in 1889 and reincorporated as a city in 1921.

The First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Hobart Carnegie Library Hobart Commercial District, and Pennsylvania Railroad Station are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Lake George Commercial Historic District is noted locally. Hobart is also the site of several WPA projects, including a post office.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Hobart in 1915

Passages that mention Hobart, cut from the printed page as they were published.

at what became the Town of Ilobart, which he platted in 1848, In 1854 he returned to Philadelphia, leaving his son, John Earle, who afterward became well known as a Chicago capitalist, to manage his interests in Lake County. The elder man did much for the Town of Hobart, although after 1854 he spen…
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 45Read the page →
Read the text

at what became the Town of Ilobart, which he platted in 1848, In 1854 he returned to Philadelphia, leaving his son, John Earle, who afterward became well known as a Chicago capitalist, to manage his interests in Lake County. The elder man did much for the Town of Hobart, although after 1854 he spent much of his time in his native town of Falmouth, England. A gentleman of varied abilities he certainly was ; for he was an artist of talents, and in 1858 presented Hobart with an art gallery comprising three hundred pictures which he had painted in

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
followed the cheese factory, the houses increased in number and improved in appearance, and it secured an outlet both north and south by the construction of a substantial macadam road from Crown Point, through Ainsworth, Hobart and Lake Station to Lake Michigan. That thoroughfare is still of great …
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 184Read the page →
Read the text

followed the cheese factory, the houses increased in number and improved in appearance, and it secured an outlet both north and south by the construction of a substantial macadam road from Crown Point, through Ainsworth, Hobart and Lake Station to Lake Michigan. That thoroughfare is still of great benefit to Merrillville, although since 1903 it has enjoyed railroad connection over the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad.

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

Hobart, 1847 to 1997

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Hobart post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Ainsworth post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1909In the archive4th Street
  6. 1922Born hereMel Fisher is born here
  7. 1928Born hereAlan Abel is born here
  8. 1934Post officeThe Ainsworth post office closes
  9. 1940Born hereBud Olsen is born here
  10. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1997Born hereOmar Apollo is born here
By decade

Hobart, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s4 items
4th Street19094th StreetCenter St1909Center StMain St1909Main StLake St1909Lake St
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today13 recent
Evangelical Lutheran Church, circa 19102007Evangelical Lutheran Church, circa 1910PostcardCountry Lounge Restaurant and Cocktail Bar, 19702007Country Lounge Restaurant and Cocktail Bar, 1970PostcardAt Lake George, circa 19102007At Lake George, circa 1910PostcardHobart-lakefront-gazebo2006Hobart-lakefront-gazeboWater Works and Electric Light Plant, circa 19102006Water Works and Electric Light Plant, circa 1910PostcardThe Old Mill, 19112006The Old Mill, 1911PostcardThe Bayou, circa 19302006The Bayou, circa 1930PostcardRailway Bridge, Lake George, 19092006Railway Bridge, Lake George, 1909PostcardNorth on Main Street, 19072006North on Main Street, 1907PostcardHobart House, 19112006Hobart House, 1911PostcardGreetings from Hobart, circa 19102006Greetings from Hobart, circa 1910PostcardFirst Methodist Episcopal Church, 19092006First Methodist Episcopal Church, 1909PostcardAugustana Lutheran Church, Kelly and Hickey Streets, circa 19652006Augustana Lutheran Church, Kelly and Hickey Streets, …Postcard
On the map

Hobart on the map, 1953 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hobart. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Hobart on the 1953 USGS mapHobart on the 1968 USGS mapHobart on the 1980 USGS mapHobart on the 1991 USGS map1953Gary 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 Hobart.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

4th Street
Retake this view4th Street, 1909

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hobart’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Hobart, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,0001880190019201940196019802000202029,752

Grew from 600 people in 1880 to 29,752 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hobart’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

13 famous people were born in Hobart

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
O
Omar ApolloAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1997
Alan AbelAmerican percussionist · b. 1928
M
Mel FisherAmerican treasure hunter · b. 1922
B
Bud OlsenAmerican basketball player · b. 1940
Larry BigbieAmerican baseball player · b. 1977
T
Tim GillAmerican businessman and software programmer · b. 1953
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Hobart’s post office has been open since 1847. Another post office, Ainsworth, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hobart
1847–today
Ainsworth
1882–1934
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AinsworthGreen Acres
Gone or out of use
First Church of Christ ScientistchurchHaan SchoolschoolJohnsons Strawberry Farm AirportairportKirk AirportairportMichigan Avenue Methodist Episcopal ChurchchurchTrinity Evangelical Lutheran Churchchurch
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hobart
ChesterCrown HillEvergreen Memorial ParkHobart

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Lake StationIts storyC−Merrillville2 historic placesBHobart Township5 historic placesA−Union TownshipIts storyC−Ross Township3 historic placesC+New ChicagoIts storyCCalumet Township32 historic placesB+Gary29 historic placesBPortage Township4 historic placesC−

Questions about Hobart’s history

What year was Hobart founded?

The Hobart post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1889.

How does Hobart rank for history?

Hobart is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #230 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 Hobart?

5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Hobart Carnegie Library (listed 1982, the first), and 1 historic district, the Hobart Commercial District, with 38 contributing buildings. 43 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Hobart?

13% of Hobart’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1971.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (13), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.