Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: maps from 1961 on.
Paw Paw Township dates its founding to 1847 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1866.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paw Paw Township is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Paw Paw Township’s 812 sits above most of its state (98% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 125 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Paw Paw Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Paw Paw Township.
Paw Paw was platted in 1847. When the Eel River Railroad was built in Miami County, it was not extended to Paw Paw, and the village became a ghost town.
A post office was established at Paw Paw in 1840, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1883.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltRoann Covered Bridge, 4th is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Paw Paw Township.
1961North Manchester South 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 Paw Paw Township.
Nobody well known was born in Paw Paw Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1847, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Paw Paw Township’s post office opened in 1866.
Paw Paw Township is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. 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.
6 listings: 1 building, 1 historic district, the Halderman-Van Buskirk Farmstead, with 5 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 125 historic buildings in all.
47% of Paw Paw Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1948.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
