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AHistory
History · Paoli Township

Paoli Township dates to 1816, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #133 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1850.

1816founded
5on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Paoli Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Paoli Township began, and where its name came from

When was Paoli Township founded?

1816

Paoli Township dates its founding to 1816 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 461 in 18502020 census: 6,038210 years

How did Paoli Township get its name?

Paoli Township was named for Pasquale Paoli Ash, the son of North Carolina governor Samuel Ashe.

How historic is Paoli Township?

A

More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1817. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Paoli Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paoli Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #133 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paoli Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1816, from Wikipedia: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194020.1% of homes (±6.5) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register5 listings, 148 historic buildings, 248 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 91%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 78%

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 Paoli Township’s 248 sits above most of its state (90% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 148 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 points). Two sources give 1816.

Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Paoli Township’s past

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

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Paoli Township, and 6 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsEstablished in 1816: 210 years of Paoli Township.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Lost River
1837–1878
Chambersburg
1849–1912
Syria
1880–1904
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ChambersburgLost RiverStampers CreekSyriaTurleysWoodlawn Grove
Gone or out of use
Calcar QuarrymineCave Quarriesmine
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Paoli Township
LewisScottSpringer

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

Timeline

Paoli Township, 1816 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1816
    FoundingPaoli Township is established
  3. 1837Post officeThe Lost River post office opens
  4. 1849Post officeThe Chambersburg post office opens
  5. 1878Post officeThe Lost River post office closes
  6. 1880Post officeThe Syria post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1904In the archivePaoli Trestle 1904
  9. 1904Post officeThe Syria post office closes
  10. 1912Post officeThe Chambersburg post office closes
  11. 1940In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey Charles E. Peterson, Photographer June 2, 1940 STAIRWA…
  12. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the National Register

5 listings protect 148 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
148
each building in a district counts
first listed
1985
Thomas Elwood Lindley House
Thomas Elwood Lindley HouseNewberry Friends Meeting House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Thomas Elwood Lindley HouseGreek Revival
Newberry Friends Meeting HouseGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Paoli Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Paoli Township.

Read it all →

Paoli was laid out and platted in 1816. It was named for Pasquale Paoli Ash, the son of North Carolina governor Samuel Ashe. A post office has been in operation at Paoli since 1817.

In its first decades, it was noted as a Quaker town that played a role in the Underground Railroad by transporting enslaved people from the South to Canada. In the 1900s, it became known as the site of the Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest, a surviving fragment of the once-extensive virgin oak forest of southern Indiana.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Paoli Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Paoli Trestle 19041904Paoli Trestle 1904
1910s–1930snothing 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
1940s4 items
Historic American Buildings Survey Charles E. Peterson, Photographer June 2, 1940 STAIRWAY DETAIL - Orange County Court…1940Historic American Buildings Survey Charles E. Peterso…Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Photographer June 2, 1940 DOOR DETAIL (NORTH) - Orange County Courthou…1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Photographer June 2, 1940 VIEW FROM NORTHWEST - Orange County Courthou…1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Photographer June 2, 1940 VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST - Orange County Courthou…1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…
1950s–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
Date unknown2 to date
Orange County Courthouse, State Routes 156 & 37Date?Orange County Courthouse, State Routes 156 & 37Gospel Street Bridge, South Gospel Street, spanning Lick CreekDate?Gospel Street Bridge, South Gospel Street, spanning L…
Today5 recent
Monon Abutment P52504642011Monon Abutment P5250464Monon Abutment P52504632011Monon Abutment P5250463Monon Abutment P52504622011Monon Abutment P5250462Main Street Bridge P52504512011Main Street Bridge P5250451SR 56 and US 150 in2009SR 56 and US 150 in
On the map

Paoli Township on the map, 1957 to 1993

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

Paoli Township on the 1957 USGS mapPaoli Township on the 1970 USGS mapPaoli Township on the 1993 USGS map1957Paoli 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 Paoli Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Paoli Trestle 1904
Retake this viewPaoli Trestle 1904, 1904

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Paoli Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Paoli Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0001850190019502000Peak: 3,844

Between 461 and 3,844 people in every census since 1850.

17 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Paoli Township’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Paoli Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewPaoli Trestle 1904: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Orleans Township3 historic placesAOrangeville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGreenfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFrench Lick Township9 historic placesASoutheast TownshipIts storyDStampers Creek Township1 historic placeC−

Questions about Paoli Township’s history

What year was Paoli Township founded?

In 1816, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Paoli Township’s post office opened in 1817, and the census of 1850 counted 461 people here.

How does Paoli Township rank for history?

Paoli Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #133 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 Paoli Township?

5 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Thomas Elwood Lindley House (listed 1985, the first). 148 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Paoli Township?

20% of Paoli Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1976.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.