The story
Read it all →How Pleasant Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Pleasant Township.
Fox Lake and Pokagon State Park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
A−History
History · Pleasant Township
14% of Pleasant Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #204 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 67 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1941 on.
6on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
About Pleasant Township’s history
How historic is Pleasant Township?
A−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Pleasant Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pleasant Township is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #204 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 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 Pleasant Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194013.6% of homes (±2.9) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register6 listings, 122 historic buildings, 83.7 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 83%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 66%
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 Pleasant Township’s 83.7 sits above most of its state (80% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 122 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.9 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Pleasant Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Pleasant Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pleasant 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 National Register
6 listings protect 122 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
122
each building in a district counts
first listed
2026
Fox Lake
BuildingsDistricts
Architectural styles listings
Lake Cottage1
All 2 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Timeline
Pleasant Township, 1838 to 1941
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1838Post officeThe Crooked Lake post office opens
- 1843Post officeThe Crooked Lake post office closes
- 20th century
- 1941
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Pleasant Township, decade by decade
Date unknown1 to date
Date?On the map
Pleasant Township on the map, 1941 to 1992
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pleasant Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1941Angola West 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 Pleasant 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.
Retake this viewPleasant Township School, Smith & Ferguson Roads, Fort Wayne, Allen County, IN
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pleasant Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Pleasant Township
Nobody well known was born in Pleasant Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Crooked Lake, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Crooked LakeGlen Eden
Gone or out of use
Crooked Lake Post Officepost officeState Line Sand and Gravel PitmineViking Gravel Pitmine
1cemetery inside Pleasant Township
Kope
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Pleasant Township’s history
How does Pleasant Township rank for history?
Pleasant Township is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #204 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 Pleasant Township?
6 listings: 1 building and 1 historic district, the Fox Lake, with 67 contributing buildings. 122 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Pleasant Township?
14% of Pleasant Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.