Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Normal Hall. Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1870.
Ladoga dates its founding to 1836 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ladoga is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. 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 Ladoga’s 8.7 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Ladoga’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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ladoga.
Ladoga was platted in 1836 by John Myers. Myers invited his friends to help him find a name. He required that the name not end in -burg or -ville and that it would not be named after another town. He chose "Ladoga" after finding Lake Ladoga on a map of Russia. In 1837, the town's post office was established, which still operates today.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ladoga, cut from the printed page as they were published.
MOXTdO.MEKV COLNTV, INDIANA. I 205 village of Ladoga and there lie grew to nianiioud and attended the public schools, later he was a student in Wabash College until in 1888, when he returned to Ladoga and went into the grocery business with George Reed with whom he remained two years liien formed a iiartnersliip with Harxey Wilson for an equal length of time, lie then went to Chicago and engaged in the produce business, later in the real estate business, remaining there for a period of five years, then returned to Ladoga and was connected with the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About the year 1828 John Myers, Jr., came to the site of Ladoga. Montgomery county, Indiana, and prior to the spring of 1830 he had purchased three hundred and twenty acres which joined the mill site south of Ladoga, and in 1830 he brought his family here. In 183 1 John Myers, Sr., and son Henry, and nephew, Mathias Frantz came on horseback to Ladoga to visit John Myers, Jr. The senior Myers was then sixty years old. He was so favorably impressed with the possibilities of the new country that he returned to Virginia, sold his land and other property for six thousand dollars,
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereElijah Voorhees Brookshire is born here
Born hereWarren Gill is born here
Born hereEd Summers is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ladoga. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ladoga.
The 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 829 and 1,176 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ladoga’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
In 1836, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ladoga’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1870 counted 878 people here.
Ladoga is more historic than 88% 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.
One place: the Normal Hall (listed 1996).
43% of Ladoga’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1945.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
2008
2008
