Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #223 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1961 on, and the census since 1850.
Patoka Township dates its founding to 1813 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Patoka Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #223 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Patoka Township’s 3.6 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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Patoka Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveFlooded country road near Patoka, Indiana
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Patoka Township.
Patoka was laid out and platted in 1813. The town's name comes from an Indian word meaning "log on bottom", on account of the many muddy logs at the bottom of the river. The Patoka post office was established in 1833.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Patoka Township. 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 Patoka Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Patoka Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 99 and 844 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Patoka Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Patoka Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1813, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Patoka Township’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1850 counted 99 people here.
Patoka Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #223 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.
27% of Patoka Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
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2016