Founding year: the first Portage Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Portage Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Portage Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #49 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Portage Township’s overall grade.
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 Portage Township’s 146 sits above most of its state (84% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1,384 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% 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 (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. 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 Portage Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Portage Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958South Bend West 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 Portage Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to Portage Township
Nobody well known was born in Portage Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Portage Township post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Portage Township rank for history?
Portage Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #49 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 Portage Township?
78 listings: 1 historic district, the University of Notre Dame: Main and South Quadrangles, with 21 contributing buildings. 1,384 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Portage Township?
33% of Portage Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 (1), 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.
