Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1960 on.
The New Garden Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name.
New Garden Township was named by Quaker settlers after the New Garden Friends meeting house, in Guilford County, North Carolina.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Garden Township is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age 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 New Garden Township’s 478 sits above most of its state (95% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 103 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% 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 New Garden Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Garden Township.
New Garden Township was organized in 1817. It was named by Quaker settlers after the New Garden Friends meeting house, in Guilford County, North Carolina.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Garden 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 New Garden Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in New Garden Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The New Garden Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
New Garden Township is more historic than 94% 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.
24% of New Garden Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
