Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1834.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Palestine’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Palestine is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #373 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Palestine’s overall grade.
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 Palestine’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1838.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 points).
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 →
What stands out about New Palestine’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
New Palestine was laid out October 1, 1838, by Jonathan Evans. It first consisted of fifteen blocks and thirty six lots. A petition for the incorporation of New Palestine as a town was dated May 22, 1871, and presented to the board of county commissioners at the June session of 1871. At the time of the petition, New Palestine had a population of around 669 people. The vote for incorporation was held on June 24, 1871. Many years after incorporation, the town had difficulty with its name. The post office was known as Sugar Creek, the railroad and express stations as Palestine and the name of the town itself was New Palestine. Through the efforts of E.F. Faut and Congressman William D. Bynum, the name of the post office was changed from Sugar Creek to New Palestine on January 16, 1889, and the name of the railroad station and express office were also changed to New Palestine. New Palestine…
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Palestine. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Acton sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of New Palestine.
People over time
New Palestine, census by census
Grew from 391 people in 1880 to 2,744 in 2020, 7 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Palestine’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
4 famous people were born in New Palestine
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
New Palestine’s post office has been open since 1889. Another post office, Sugar Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Sugar Creek
1834–1889
New Palestine
1889–today
18301930today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about New Palestine’s history
What year was New Palestine founded?
In 1838, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Palestine’s post office opened in 1834, and the census of 1880 counted 391 people here.
How does New Palestine rank for history?
New Palestine is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #373 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.
How old are the homes in New Palestine?
12% of New Palestine’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 (5), 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) 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.
2020
2020
2020
2016
2012
