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B+History
History · Jamestown Township

3 of Jamestown Township’s places are on the National Register

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #286 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Most of Jamestown Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1941 on.

3on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Jamestown Township’s history

How historic is Jamestown Township?

B+

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Jamestown Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jamestown Township is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #286 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jamestown Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 71%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 52%

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 Jamestown Township’s 91.9 sits above most of its state (81% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 30 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% 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 (±4.7 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 Jamestown Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Jamestown Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lake James
1851–1851
Nevada Mills
1867–1905
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
JamestownLake JamesNevada MillsPotawatomi InnValley Outlet Center
Gone or out of use
Lake James Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Jamestown Township
West Jamestown

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

On the National Register

3 listings protect 30 historic buildings

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
30
each building in a district counts
first listed
1992
Combination Shelter
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

NPS Rustic1
Park Rustic1
Italianate1

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

The story

How Jamestown Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Jamestown Township.

Read it all →

Pokagon State Park, Collins School, and CCC Shelter are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Jamestown Township, 1851 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Lake James post office opens
  3. 1851Post officeThe Lake James post office closes
  4. 1867Post officeThe Nevada Mills post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1905Post officeThe Nevada Mills post office closes
  7. 1925BuiltPokagon State Park is built
  8. 1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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 album
On the map

Jamestown Township on the map, 1941 to 1992

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

Jamestown Township on the 1941 USGS mapJamestown Township on the 1960 USGS mapJamestown Township on the 1981 USGS mapJamestown Township on the 1992 USGS map1941Angola West 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 Jamestown Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Jamestown Township

Nobody well known was born in Jamestown Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Jamestown Township’s history

How does Jamestown Township rank for history?

Jamestown Township is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #286 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 Jamestown Township?

Three places: the Combination Shelter (listed 1992), the Pokagon State Park (1996) and the Collins School (2002).

How old are the homes in Jamestown Township?

9% of Jamestown Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1983.

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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.