Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Mecca Bridge and the Wabash Township Graded School. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1980.
Mecca dates its founding to 1890 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1980.
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 Mecca’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mecca.
The town of Mecca was platted on August 7, 1890, by Samuel Hixon and his friend Tom L. McCune. As of 1913, its population was about 1,400.
The Mecca Covered Bridge and Wabash Township Graded School are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Mecca’s post office has been open since 1894. Two 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltMecca Bridge is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mecca. 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 Mecca.
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 sheet.
1910Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 263 and 482 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mecca’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Mecca itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1890, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Mecca’s post office opened in 1887, and the census of 1980 counted 482 people here.
Two places: the Mecca Bridge (listed 1978) and the Wabash Township Graded School (1987).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2012
