Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1848.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ligonier’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ligonier is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #46 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ligonier’s overall grade.
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 Ligonier’s 589 sits above most of its state (96% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 256 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.5 points). Two sources give 1835.
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 →
What stands out about Ligonier’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Ligonier was platted in 1835. The city was named after the Pennsylvanian borough of the same name. A post office has been in operation at Ligonier since 1848.
Ligonier was home to A. J. Inks' Crystal Theatre from 1906 to 1970.
In 1940, a post office mural was completed by Fay E. Davis as a work commissioned through the federal Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department. The mural, Cutting Timber, depicts lumberjacks felling trees and removing them by oxcart.
The Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple, Ligonier Historic District, and Jacob Straus House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Passages that mention Ligonier, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Alvord's history of Noble County, Indiana ...1902 · page 275Read the page →
Read the text
Lewis J. Dunning was a school-teacher in early life, and. believing that Indiana offered better opportunities for advancement, moved to Ligonier, Noble count}-, in 1859, taught school in the < > 1 < I red school-house one winter and then settled cm a farm one mile south of Ligonier. In 1861 he again moved to Ligonier and engaged in mercantile busi-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Alvord's history of Noble County, Indiana ...1902 · page 380Read the page →
Read the text
until their death, came from Ohio to' the then sparsely settled district of Indiana and purchased a large tract of land adjoining the present village of Ligonier. The land was divided by the Elkhart river, and on the Ijanks of this picturesque stream they established their home and continued to reside until they went to the home above. It
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
Ligonier, 1835 to 1994
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1835, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ligonier’s post office opened in 1848, and the census of 1870 counted 1,514 people here.
How does Ligonier rank for history?
Ligonier is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Ligonier?
Three places: the Jacob Straus House (listed 1979), the Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple (1983) and the Ligonier Historic District (1987).
How old are the homes in Ligonier?
31% of Ligonier’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1974.
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, 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.
