Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #196 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listings are the James Culbertson Reynolds House, the South Grade School Building and the Monticello Carnegie Library. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1860.
The Monticello post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monticello is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #196 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Monticello’s 9.1 sits near the middle of its state (61% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monticello’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.
1886Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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.
Born hereCharles S. Hartman is born here
Born hereGeorge R. Dale is born here
In the archiveFMIB 33175 Dam for Quicksand Bottom
BuiltMonticello Carnegie Library is built
In the archiveThe Rexall Store, Alter and Revington (NBY 10174)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAshba is born here
Born hereB. J. Hollars is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Monticello.
Monticello was laid out in 1834 as the county seat, with a post office established that year, and is still currently in operation. The city was named after President Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia. In 1853, Monticello was officially incorporated as a town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monticello, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Headed for Monticello Monticello was still without a railroad; but hers was coming and would arrive ill live or six years from the Logansport way, through the forerunner of the east and west line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is said that the Lake Michigan, Logansport & Ohio River Railroad Coinpan}- expected to build its line west and south along the Wabash and did much grading, but never completed the road, and the Logansport & Crawfordsville Railroad later acquired its rights. The section from
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and uncertain times of 1857-58. The Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Pennsylvania) was completed through the township in 1859 and gave another boom to Reynolds, which, during the following decade, especially, was acknowledged to be a rival to Monticello "away off on the eastern borders of the county." Being the junction of the two lines, although it had prosperous and substantial business houses, it was known for many miles around as "a tough railroad town," with all that expression implies. But, although all of its ambitions were not realized,
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 1870s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monticello. 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 Monticello.
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 Monticello’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.
Between 565 and 5,723 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monticello’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 Monticello post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Monticello is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #196 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.
Three places: the James Culbertson Reynolds House (listed 1982), the South Grade School Building (1985) and the Monticello Carnegie Library (2013).
22% of Monticello’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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