The story
Read it all →How Ingalls came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Ingalls.
Ingalls was platted in 1893. It was named in honor of Melville E. Ingalls, a railroad official.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Ingalls
Ingalls’ post office opened in 1893
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #517 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Ingalls was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1900.
1893first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Ingalls began, and where its name came from
When was Ingalls founded?
1893
The Ingalls post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 542 in 19002020 census: 2,223133 years
How did Ingalls get its name?
Ingalls was named in honor of Melville E. Ingalls, a railroad official.
How historic is Ingalls?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Ingalls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ingalls’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ingalls is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #517 of 593 in Indiana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ingalls’ overall grade.
Founding era1893, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19407.4% of homes (±4.5) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%C+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IN town 7.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 24%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 13%
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 Ingalls’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Ingalls’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Ingalls’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ingalls’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Ingalls, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then grew 6-fold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ingalls’ Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Ingalls in 1903
Passages that mention Ingalls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The genealogy and history of the Ingalls family in America1903 · page 249Read the page →
Read the text
William Ingalls, the oldest of the Ingalls brothers, hermits, who for years have lived on Little Spruce Island, off the town of Roque Bluffs, Me., died Jan. 24, 1903. He was over eighty years of age and had been in poor health for some time. The story of the Ingalls brothers, their hermit life and peculiar habits, is
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The genealogy and history of the Ingalls family in America1903 · page 254Read the page →
Read the text
Ingalls, Frank Ingalls, Clarence Ingalls, D. Calvin Ingalls, Bernard H. Ingals, George H. Ingalls. Melrose, Mass., George T. Ingalls.
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
Ingalls, 1893 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1893Post officeThe Ingalls post office opens
- 20th century
- 1952
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 2,394
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Ingalls on the map, 1952 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ingalls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1952Ingalls sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ingalls.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Ingalls
Nobody well known was born in Ingalls itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
C
Cory EdwardsAmerican film director and comedian · b. 1968
R
Ray EnrightAmerican film director, screenwriter and film e… · b. 1896Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Ingalls’ history
What year was Ingalls founded?
The Ingalls post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ingalls rank for history?
Ingalls is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #517 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.
How old are the homes in Ingalls?
7% of Ingalls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 2000.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.