Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #210 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Starke County Courthouse and the Starke County Bridge No. 39. Its Register listings are the Starke County Courthouse and the Starke County Bridge No. 39. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1860.
The Knox post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lake Park (1902), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Knox is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #210 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Knox’s 5.7 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Knox’s history is told.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveKnox, Indiana (1910)
In the archiveKKK South Bend drill team in Knox, Indiana, 1924-05-30
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Knox.
Knox was founded in 1851, and is named for American Revolutionary War General Henry Knox. The Knox post office has been in operation since 1820.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Knox, cut from the printed page as they were published.
on page 288 of Record 8 of the proceedings of the county court, towit : The clerk of this court, in conjunction with Joel Sever and David Bunnell, two justices of the peace within and for the county of Knox, on this 18th day of March, 1867, proceeded to count the votes cast at the special election held on the 12th day of March, 1867, at the various election precincts in Knox County, for the purpose of ascertaining the sense of the legal voters of Knox County as to whether the county court should subscribe one hundred thousand dollars
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
understood by the following copy of its order, made November 8, 1859: Now at this day comes John Thomson, chairman of the committee ap¬ pointed by a mass meeting of the citizens of the county of Knox, and presents a petition praying for an appropriation for the survey of the Alexandria & Bloomington Railroad through the county of Knox; also praying for a subscrip¬ tion for said road from the county of Knox for $100,000, which petition being seen and fully understood by the court is granted. It is therefore ordered by
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
town of Vincennes to Harbin's Ferry, beginning at the point where the road crosses the line of the township of Vincennes; thence along that road until it strikes the division line between the county of Knox and the county of Clark, and that it be named and styled Harrison Township." It, of course, was named in honor of Gen. Harrison. " Ordered, that the third township shall be bounded by the said road until it strikes the said division line between the counties of Knox and Clark, and should be known
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2019Green - Trevor Bldg 19-01-15 150
2019Castleman - Sherman 19-01-15 143
2019Bay windows 19-01-15 154
2012Knox, Indiana
2012Courthouse Square in
2012Bass Lake and
2010Che-Mah, The Smallest Man in the World, 1906 - Postca…Postcard
2009Knox High School Welcome Sign (Indiana)
2006Yellow River
2006Yellow River Knox downstreamThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Knox.
1984Knox 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 Knox.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Knox’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 124 and 3,721 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Knox’s Wikipedia page.
Knox’s post office has been open since 1820. Another post office, Lake Park, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Knox post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Knox is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #210 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.
Two places: the Starke County Courthouse (listed 1986) and the Starke County Bridge No. 39 (1993).
25% of Knox’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1971.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
