Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #163 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1962 on, and the census since 1880.
The Monon Township post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lee (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monon Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #163 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings 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 Monon Township’s 72.8 sits above most of its state (79% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 24 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Monon Township.
The town of Monon was platted by James Brooks in 1853 as "New Bradford". This act by the president of the New Albany and Salem Railroad (predecessor of the Monon Railroad) foretold the story of the town. The town would grow as the train company prospered, but once "The Monon" declined, so would the town's economy.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monon Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Oakdale, or Lee The only existing postoffice in Monon Township outside the village is Lee, in the northwest corner, about a mile from the Jasper County line .on the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago (Monon) Railroad. It became a postoffice, in 1882, with Calvin Anderson as postmaster, and although it was platted in 1886 as Oakdale it is generally known as Lee in honor of Uncle Sam 's sponsorship.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Cornelius Sutton, First Settler The first settler in Monon Township of whom there is any account — and that is rather unsatisfactory — was Cornelius Sutton, a wandering trapper, who, about 1835, located his shack and himself near the confluence of the Big and Little Monon creeks. He was chosen one of the two overseers of the poor at the first election in the following year; but that is not necessarily placing him in the list of really prominent men, as in order to fill the offices nearly all the residents of the township had
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monon Township. 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 Monon Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Monon Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 288 people in 1880 to 1,919 in 2020, 6 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monon Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Monon Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Lee, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Monon Township post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Monon Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #163 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.
21% of Monon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (6), 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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