Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #353 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Merrillville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listings are the Wood, John, Old Mill and the Morgan-Skinner-Boyd Homestead. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1970.
The Merrillville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1971. Three smaller post offices, Lake Court House (1837), Deepriver (1838) and Lottaville (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Merrillville is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #353 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Merrillville’s 1.4 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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.
Merrillville had its own post office from 1847 to 1925. Three 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 Merrillville’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 Survey
Born hereIliana Regan is born here
Born hereDavid Neville is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Merrillville.
Merrillville occupies what used to be woodland belonging to the Potawatomi Indians. In 1834, a clearing was created for ceremonial purposes and called McGwinn Village. A year later, a white man, Jeremiah Wiggins, settled in the place; McGwinn Village became Wiggins Point.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Merrillville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Merrillville grew slowly, but in time the frame schoolhouse gave place to a two-story brick, a brick church was also erected, a feed-mill followed the cheese factory, the houses increased in number and improved in appearance, and it secured an outlet both north and south by the construction of a substantial macadam road from Crown Point, through Ainsworth, Hobart and Lake Station to Lake Michigan. That thoroughfare is still of great benefit to Merrillville, although since 1903 it has enjoyed railroad connection over the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louis-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lone Jere Wiggins What is now the Village of Merrillville was first the old Indian town known as JMcGwin's, then AViggins' Point and Centerville, before the prominence of the Merrill families fixed the present name upon the postoffice and the settlement. Jeremiah Wiggins appears to have been one of those mysterious men who are ever wandering into new communities, who come from out of the shadow of Somewhere and merge into the shade of Nowhere. The Claim Register does not record him, although
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.
2024Target (Merrillville, Indiana) 1
2024Hidden Lake Park
2024Chili's (Merrillville, Indiana) 1
2024Big Lots (Merrillville, Indiana) 1
2023Cracker Barrel (Merrillville, Indiana) 1
2023At Home (Merrillville, Indiana) 1
2022Old Time Pottery (Merrillville, Indiana) 1
2022Camp-Land Recreational Vehicle Showcase, 1988Postcard
2020Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, circa 1970sPostcard
2013SS Constantine and Helen Cathedral in
2013Morgan-Skinner-Boyd Homestead
2013Merrillville, IN (JCT US 30 and I-65)
2013John Wood Old Mill
2013Centier Bank Headquarters in
2012Merrillville Skyline with US 30
2009Holiday Star Plaza, 1983Postcard
2007Westfield Southlake Shopping center, Indiana
2007Lincoln Rest Tourist Camp, 1927Postcard
2007Kraft Motel, circa 1960sPostcard
2007El-Mar's Fine Dining and Lounge, circa 1980Postcard
2007El-Mar's Fine Dining and Lounge, circa 1980Postcard
2006Purdue Technology Center
2006Johnny Cicco's Menswear, circa 1970PostcardEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Merrillville. 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 Merrillville.
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.
Grew from 15,918 people in 1970 to 36,444 in 2020.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Merrillville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Merrillville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1971.
Merrillville is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #353 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.
Two places: the Wood, John, Old Mill (listed 1975) and the Morgan-Skinner-Boyd Homestead (2010).
3% of Merrillville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (23), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
