Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #283 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Dearborn County Asylum for the Poor. Below: maps from 1958 on.
The Manchester Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Manchester (1822), Wright Corners (1855) and Holman (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manchester Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #283 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Manchester Township’s 6.0 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings 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.
Four other post offices 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manchester Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Manchester Township.
A post office was established at Manchester in 1822, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1914. The community was named from Manchester Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Manchester Township.
1958Sunman 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 Manchester Township.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Manchester Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Manchester Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #283 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.
One place: the Dearborn County Asylum for the Poor (listed 2000).
13% of Manchester Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
2012