The story
Read it all →How Oil Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Oil Township.
The Jacob Rickenbaugh House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Oil Township
11% of Oil Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #375 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Rickenbaugh House. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1890.
1on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Oil Township’s history
How historic is Oil Township?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Oil Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oil Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #375 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Oil Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194010.6% of homes (±10.0) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 3.9 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 51%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 37%
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 Oil Township’s 3.9 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.0 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Oil Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Oil Township, and 7 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Oil Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1890 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.Old burying grounds16 cemeteries and burying grounds inside Oil Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Apalona
Oil Creek
Celina
Doolittle Mills
Branchville
Saint Croix
Saint Cross
Oriole
Bandon
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ApalonaBandonBranchvilleCelinaDoolittle MillsOrioleSaint Croix
16cemeteries and burying grounds inside Oil Township
BangleBranchville WalkerColbyEwingGerman RidgeGuillaumeJeffriesJonesLuxemburgerMillerRickenbaughSennSprinkleUnderhillValleyWoolums
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Oil Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oil Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Oil Township, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oil Township’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Oil Township in 1916
Passages that mention Oil Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Perry County, a history1916Read the page →
Read the text
In 1866 Jesse C. Esarey, a descendant of the pioneer family who were the earliest settlers of Oil Township in 1810, erected a saw and grist mill near one of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Perry County, a history1916Read the page →
Read the text
Rural parishes of the Roman Catholic Church in the county commenced with St. Croix (Holy Cross) Church, in Oil Township several miles north of Leopold, where the families of Jean Dupaquier and several others settled about 1849 and were soon visited by Father Bessonies. The Rev. J. P. Dion, from Cannelton, organized and named the mission in 1855, buying forty acres of ground on which the first log church and
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
Oil Township, 1864 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1864Post officeThe Apalona post office opens
- 1864Post officeThe Oil Creek post office opens
- 1870Post officeThe Celina post office opens
- 1878Post officeThe Oil Creek post office closes
- 20th century
- 1951Post officeThe Celina post office closes
- 1955Post officeThe Apalona post office closes
- 1958
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 2,546
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Oil Township on the map, 1958 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oil Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958Branchville sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oil Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Oil Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Rickenbaugh House
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Oil Township
Nobody well known was born in Oil Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
J
John Franklin BobbittEducationist · b. 1876
J
Jerry SturmAmerican football player · b. 1936
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Clark TownshipIts storyB−Leopold TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townUnion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBoone TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townUnion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJohnson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Oil Township’s history
How does Oil Township rank for history?
Oil Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #375 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.
What is on the National Register in Oil Township?
One place: the Rickenbaugh House (listed 1984).
How old are the homes in Oil Township?
11% of Oil Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1998.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.