The story
Read it all →How Jonesboro came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Jonesboro.
Jonesboro was established in 1837 by Obadiah Jones, and named for him.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Jonesboro
Jonesboro dates to 1837, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1850.
1837founded
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Quick answers
How Jonesboro began
When was Jonesboro founded?
1837
Jonesboro dates its founding to 1837 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
First census: 288 in 18502020 census: 1,516189 years
How historic is Jonesboro?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1848.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jonesboro’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jonesboro is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. 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 Jonesboro’s overall grade.
Founding era1837, from Wikipedia: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194039.0% of homes (±4.1) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%ANational 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 74%
NewerOlder
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 Jonesboro’s 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 C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points). Two sources give 1837.
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 →
What stands out about Jonesboro’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Jonesboro are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,466 in 1970; 1,516 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1893 to 1911, drew every building in Jonesboro.Old housesHalf of Jonesboro’s homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Jonesboro’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jonesboro’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
Jonesboro, census by census
Peaked at 2,466 in 1970; 1,516 people lived here in 2020.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jonesboro’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Jonesboro, building by building, 1893–1911
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Jonesboro, 1914–1917
Passages that mention Jonesboro, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana1914 · page 724Read the page →
Read the text
county, where he taught for a time in the schools of his native town of Jonesboro. He early began the technical reading through which he effectively equipped himself for the legal profession, but his energies have likewise been directed along divers other lines.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana1914 · page 734Read the page →
Read the text
Kenton Ruley Wigger. While the name Wigger has been in the Marion business directory so long that it is a household word in Grant county, and is as familiar to the trade as any landmark about the public square, the original Wigger business house was located in Jonesboro. It was in 1852 that Harman Wigger came with his uncle, Aaron Abel, from Germany, and in 1859 he established the business in Jonesboro that has always been associated with the Wigger family name in Grant county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The making of a township, being an account of the early settlement and subsequent development of Fairmount Township, Grant County, Indiana, 1829 to 1917, based upon data secured by personal interviews, from numerous communications and various other reliab1917 · page 172Read the page →
Read the text
I remember well when Isaac Meek, a minister of the Wesleyan Church, and a very good man, held a revival meeting in the brick church, and in the winter of 1864 a woman belonging to the United Brethren Church held another meeting. She went from here to Jonesboro, and died there. John Lewellen, a Methodist minister from Jonesboro, also held a meeting in the brick church.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Centennial history of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 19121914Read the page →
Read the text
and the Old Bethel burial ground slill marks its location. The first school house was built in 183.T in Joncsboi'o. near the silc .d' the Fi-iends church, wbcji the town was laid out on a "hog's back." belwecn the Mississinewa and Back creek. Jonesboro was always dry when tithi'r towns
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
Jonesboro, 1837 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1837FoundingJonesboro is established
- 1848Post officeThe Jonesboro post office opens
- 1851Born hereJohn Harvey Baldwin is born here
- 1889
Born hereHarry Knight is born here - 1897Born hereMary Eleanor Spear is born here
- 1899Born hereRex Wimpy is born here
- 20th century
- 1959Post officeThe Jonesboro post office closes
- 1960
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 2,466
By decade
Jonesboro, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2023On the map
Jonesboro on the map, 1960 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jonesboro. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960Fairmount 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 Jonesboro.
Famous people
See all →4 famous people were born in Jonesboro
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Jonesboro had its own post office from 1848 to 1959.
Jonesboro
18401930today
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 Jonesboro’s history
What year was Jonesboro founded?
In 1837, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Jonesboro’s post office opened in 1848, and the census of 1850 counted 288 people here.
How does Jonesboro rank for history?
Jonesboro is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. 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 Jonesboro?
39% of Jonesboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1954.
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), 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.