The story
Read it all →How Owen Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Owen Township.
Owen Township was organized in 1848, and named for Robert Dale Owen, an Indiana politician.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Owen Township
16% of Owen Township’s homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1900 on.
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
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.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Owen Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19003 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1980. Watch Owen Township change.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Owen Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ 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
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Owen Township on the map, 1900 to 1980
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Owen Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1900De Gonia Springs sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Owen Township.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Crowville
Folsomville
Dickeyville
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DickeyvilleFolsomville
Gone or out of use
Crowville Post Officepost officeTecumseh Minemine
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Owen Township
BarrenforkHullLeslieShiloh
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Owen Township, 1853 to 1903
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1853Post officeThe Crowville post office opens
- 1863Post officeThe Folsomville post office opens
- 1877Post officeThe Crowville post office closes
- 1884Post officeThe Dickeyville post office opens
- 20th century
- 1900
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1903Post officeThe Dickeyville post office closes
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 albumFamous people
See all →Famous people close to Owen Township
Nobody well known was born in Owen Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
B
Bumper TormohlenAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1937
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.
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 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.