Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the St. Rose de Lima Roman Catholic Church and Rectory. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1870.
Monroeville dates its founding to 1851 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
Monroeville was named from Monroe Township.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monroeville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Monroeville’s 17.8 sits above most of its state (67% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monroeville’s history is told.
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 year, then a sheet.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Monroeville.
Monroeville was platted in 1851. It was named from Monroe Township. A post office was established at Monroeville in 1856. In July 1866, Monroeville was incorporated as a town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monroeville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Mr. Baker was elected one of the Board of Trustees of the village of Monroeville in 1873. and has held that position to the present time. For the last four years, he has been President of the Board. He is an active, energetic, pleasant business man, and the position given him by his fellow-citizens and neighbors for so long a period is sufficient proof ot the high esteem in which he is held, as a man and citizen, by those who know him best.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
long in vogue after the founding of the town. The provisions for free schools, made by the Constitution of 1851, were adopted, as soon as practicable, by the Trustees of this township, and more uniformity was opparent in their educational standard Monroeville, which was not yet an incorporated town, had no graded school It had its town-school building, but this was conducted like all the schools throughout the township— all the classes reciting in one room. In 1865, after the incorporation of the town, grades were established, but the building was inadequate for the demand and the various departments of the school were taught in as many difterent localities
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monroeville. 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 Monroeville.
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 578 and 1,372 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monroeville’s Wikipedia page.
Monroeville’s post office has been open since 1856.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1851, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Monroeville’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1870 counted 630 people here.
Monroeville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. 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 St. Rose de Lima Roman Catholic Church and Rectory (listed 2020).
31% of Monroeville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
2012
2012