Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the William M. Cockrum House. Its Register listing is the William M. Cockrum House. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1880.
Oakland City dates its founding to 1856 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oakland City is more historic than 70% 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 Oakland City’s 8.8 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Oakland City’s history is told.
Peaked at 3,539 in 1950; 2,279 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oakland City’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oakland City. 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 Oakland City.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oakland City.
Oakland City was laid out and platted in 1856. It was probably named for the presence of oak trees. The Oakland City post office was established in 1860.
The William M. Cockrum House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Oakland City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Situated at the crossing of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the Southern Railroads, the town of Oakland City has grown to be the second town in the county, in size, commercial standards and importance. The present population is two thousand three hundred and seventy, and it is an incorporated town, the town having been made such in 1885.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Since the war he has engaged in farming and fruit growing. Colonel Cockrum, in many respects, is a typical Westerner, imbued with that vim and push that is so characteristic of the free sons of the West. He has done more to build up the town of Oakland City than any other resident. On October 5, 1856, Colonel Cockrum was united in marriage to
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.
Born hereEdd Roush is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJeremy Spencer is born hereFire 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.
1894Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
In 1856, according to Wikidata. Oakland City’s post office opened in 1860, and the census of 1880 counted 731 people here.
Oakland City is more historic than 70% 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 William M. Cockrum House (listed 1978).
32% of Oakland City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (1), 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.
2016