Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Union Christian College, the Merom Site and Fort Azatlan and the Merom-Gill Township Carnegie Library. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1860.
Merom dates its founding to 1817 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1860.
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 Merom’s history is told.
Peaked at 521 in 1910; 208 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Merom’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Merom.
Merom was founded by Stinnett Gettinger in 1817, and a log courthouse located there served as the first Sullivan County seat.
The town's name commemorates the Battle of the Waters of Merom in the Hebrew Bible. The Merom post office has been in operation since 1818.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Merom, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The narrow-gauge railroad was completed to the Wabash in 1886, and the first trains crossed the river in that }ear. The bridge is over a mile south of Alerom, and the railroad station established for the benefit of the townspeople is so far away that Merom is still practically isolated from the railroad. In November. 1887, the county surveyor laid out a town near the bridge, and this has since been known as Riverton. though it IS really a suburb of the old town* on the bluff.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The name Creager that is owned by numerous persons in this county was among the early names at the old town of Merom. C3ne of the oldest of the family was William Creager, who died at Merom. March 30, 1868, and one of the last of the town's pioneers. He was a native of Kentucky, and for many years had been a justice of the peace at this locality.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltUnion Christian College is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Merom. 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 Merom.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Merom itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1817, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Merom’s post office opened in 1818, and the census of 1860 counted 234 people here.
Three places: the Union Christian College (listed 1982), the Merom Site and Fort Azatlan (1975) and the Merom-Gill Township Carnegie Library (2019).
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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.
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