The story
Read it all →How Luce Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Luce Township.
Luce Township was first settled about 1810; David Luce was among the first pioneer settlers.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Luce Township
12% of Luce Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Pyeatt’s Mill Iron Bridge. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1890.
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Luce Township’s history
How historic is Luce Township?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Luce Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Luce Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Luce Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194012.1% of homes (±5.7) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 3.8 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 54%
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 Luce Township’s 3.8 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 points).
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 Luce Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Luce Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Luce Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
French Island
Enterprise
Eureka
Hatfield
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
EnterpriseEurekaHatfieldPyeattvilleSand Ridge
Gone or out of use
Brauns AirportairportRenshaw Airportairport
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Luce Township
ArnoldBaker CreekBoydFriendshipGlendaleGraffRichardson
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Luce Township, 1847 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1847Post officeThe French Island post office opens
- 1852Post officeThe Enterprise post office opens
- 1869Post officeThe French Island post office closes
- 1872Post officeThe Eureka post office opens
- 20th century
- 1915Post officeThe Enterprise post office closes
- 1921Post officeThe Eureka post office closes
- 1954
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Luce Township on the map, 1954 to 1980
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Luce Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Richland 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 Luce Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Luce Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2022
Pyeatt’s Mill Iron Bridge
Structures
All 1 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Luce Township, census by census
Between 2,159 and 3,088 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Luce Township’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Luce Township’s history
How does Luce Township rank for history?
Luce Township is more historic than 54% 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.
What is on the National Register in Luce Township?
One place: the Pyeatt’s Mill Iron Bridge (listed 2022).
How old are the homes in Luce Township?
12% of Luce Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.