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History · Owen Township

24% of Owen Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1961 on.

0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Photo: Huw Williams (Huwmanbeing) · Public domain

What stands out about Owen Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Owen Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Owen Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Geetingsville
1856–1905
Moran
1872–1955
Sedalia
1872–today
Cambria
1883–1915
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CambriaEllisGeetingsvilleMoranSedalia
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Owen Township
Mount HopeOld Chaney

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Owen Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Owen Township.

Read it all →

Originally included in Jackson Township, Owen was organized as a separate township in March, 1843. It lost a one-mile (1.6 km) strip along its southern border to Union Township which was created in 1889, leaving Owen a five-mile (8 km) by five-mile square. The first settlers in the area were Elihu Short, Samuel Gray, John Temple, and John Miller in 1828.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Owen Township, 1856 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Geetingsville post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Moran post office opens
  4. 1872Post officeThe Sedalia post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903In the archive20th century atlas of Clinton County, Indiana - containing maps of villages, cities and t…
  7. 1905Post officeThe Geetingsville post office closes
  8. 1955Post officeThe Moran post office closes
  9. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Owen Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
On the map

Owen Township on the map, 1961 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Owen Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Owen Township on the 1961 USGS mapOwen Township on the 1984 USGS map1961Rossville 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 Owen Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Owen Township

Nobody well known was born in Owen Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Owen Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.