2 of Lost Creek Township’s places are on the National Register
More historic than 49% of U.S. towns · #385 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Vigo County Home for Dependent Children. Most of Lost Creek Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: maps from 1941 on.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lost Creek Township is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #385 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lost Creek Township’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 Lost Creek Township’s 5.3 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% 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 (±2.3 points) is firm at this size.
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 Lost Creek Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost Creek Township was founded in 1831 and many of the early settlers were freedmen who came from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, who came to Indiana, along with several Quakers, on a road known as the "Wilderness Road."
In 1874, Chauncey Rose opened Rose-Hulman Polytechnic Institute, now known as Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, in Lost Creek Township.
Vigo County Home for Dependent Children was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
In 2024, the Terre Haute Casino Resort was opened by the entertainment company Churchill Downs Incorporated after the closure of Gary, Indiana's Majestic Star Casino.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lost Creek Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1941Seelyville sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lost Creek Township.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Lost Creek Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Lost Creek Township is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #385 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 Lost Creek Township?
2 listings: 1 building, among them the Vigo County Home for Dependent Children (listed 2000, the first). 6 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Lost Creek Township?
6% of Lost Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
