The story
Read it all →How Jefferson Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Jefferson Township.
The Cumberland Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Jefferson Township
17% of Jefferson Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #327 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Cumberland Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1986 on.
1on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Jefferson Township’s history
How historic is Jefferson Township?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Jefferson Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jefferson Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #327 of 593 in Indiana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jefferson Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194016.6% of homes (±5.1) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register1 listing, 1.8 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 61%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 45%
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 Jefferson Township’s 1.8 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±5.1 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jefferson Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Jefferson Township, 1868 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Jefferson Township, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2007On the map
Jefferson Township on the map in 1986
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jefferson Township.
1986Muncie sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Jefferson Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Jefferson Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Cumberland Covered Bridge
Structures
Architectural styles listings
Howe Truss1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Jefferson Township
Nobody well known was born in Jefferson Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
T
Thomas Francis, Jr.American physician, virologist, and epidemiolog… · b. 1900
L
Leo Aloysius PursleyCatholic bishop · b. 1902Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Another post office, Shiloh, opened and closed inside today’s town.
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Jefferson Township
JeffersonShiloh
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.
Questions about Jefferson Township’s history
How does Jefferson Township rank for history?
Jefferson Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #327 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 Jefferson Township?
One place: the Cumberland Covered Bridge (listed 1978).
How old are the homes in Jefferson Township?
17% of Jefferson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.