The story
Read it all →How Penn Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Penn Township.
The Rebecca Rankin Round Barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
AHistory
History · Penn Township
Penn Township’s post office opened in 1839, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Rankin, Rebecca, Round Barn. Below: maps from 1962 on.
1839first post office
1on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Penn Township began
When was Penn Township founded?
1839
The Penn Township post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Penn (1839), Balbec (1865) and Fiat (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,133187 years
How historic is Penn Township?
A
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Penn Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Penn Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Penn Township is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Penn Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1839, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194035.4% of homes (±9.3) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register1 listing, 9.5 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 87%
NewerOlder
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 Penn Township’s 9.5 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Penn 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 Penn Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Penn Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1839: 187 years of Penn Township.Old housesHalf of Penn Township’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Penn Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penn Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 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.
Penn
Balbec
Fiat
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BalbecFiat
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Penn Township
HillsideTwin HillWest Grove
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Penn Township, 1839 to 1962
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1839Post officeThe Penn post office opens
- 1848Post officeThe Penn post office closes
- 1865Post officeThe Balbec post office opens
- 1881Post officeThe Fiat post office opens
- 20th century
- 1919Post officeThe Balbec post office closes
- 1926Post officeThe Fiat post office closes
- 1962
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Penn Township, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2015On the map
Penn Township on the map, 1962 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Penn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1962Petroleum 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 Penn Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Penn Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1993
Rankin, Rebecca, Round Barn
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
True-circular Barn1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Penn Township
Nobody well known was born in Penn Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Penn Township’s history
What year was Penn Township founded?
The Penn Township post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Penn Township rank for history?
Penn Township is more historic than 87% 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.
What is on the National Register in Penn Township?
One place: the Rankin, Rebecca, Round Barn (listed 1993).
How old are the homes in Penn Township?
35% of Penn Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1959.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.