Founding year: the first North Judson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives North Judson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Judson is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of North Judson’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 North Judson’s 5.5 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about North Judson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The area now known as North Judson was originally Brantwood, a town platted on October 1, 1859, less than a mile northwest of the current town. The town post office (postmaster Daniel Kelly) was established on September 24, 1860, as North Judson after William D. Judson, President of the Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad (later a part of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad), which had just been laid through the town. The 'North' was likely added to eliminate confusion with downstate Judson, Indiana. The post office was later reestablished on August 31, 1864, under postmaster Levi Lightcap, not moving to its current location until 1949. The town of North Judson proper was later laid out in 1866 and incorporated in 1888.
Passages that mention North Judson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A standard history of Starke County, Indiana1915 · page 65Read the page →
Read the text
North Judson North Judson, laid out in 1866, is located in Wayne Township and has at this time about sixteen hundred inhabitants. It has an incorporated area of 2,000 acres. It has four railroads running through it — the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, the Chicago & Erie Railroad, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and the Chicago, Indiana & Southern Railroad, two of which are double tracked, and arrangements are being made to double track the other two roads. This makes North
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.
Timeline
North Judson, 1860 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
North Judson, census by census
Between 115 and 1,942 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Judson’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about North Judson’s history
What year was North Judson founded?
The North Judson post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does North Judson rank for history?
North Judson is more historic than 66% 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.
What is on the National Register in North Judson?
One place: the Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 Steam Engine No. 2789 (listed 2024).
How old are the homes in North Judson?
32% of North Judson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (12), 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.
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