Porter’s post office opened in 1882, and 5 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #347 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Porter was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Joseph Bailly Homestead, a National Historic Landmark, and three historic districts with 28 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
The Porter post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Porter Station (1865), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 224 in 18802020 census: 5,210144 years
How historic is Porter?
B
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Porter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Porter’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Porter is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #347 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Porter’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 Porter’s 65.2 sits above most of its state (77% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 34 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 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 Porter’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Porter had its start in the 1850s when the railroad was extended to that point.
The Joseph Bailly Homestead is located in Indiana Dunes National Park on Howe Road, just north of U.S. 20. It is the residence of three generations of the Bailly family. Joseph and Marie Bailly arrived here in 1822 from the St. Joseph River in Michigan. He had been a fur trader on Lake Michigan for nearly 30 years when he set up his family home along the Little Calumet River.
The Chellberg Farm is also a three generation home, but of the family of Anders Kjellburg (Chellberg). He brought his family to this Swedish community in 1869, purchasing 80 acres (32 ha) from the Bailly descendants. The farm is located on Mineral Springs Road, north of U.S. 20.
Passages that mention Porter, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana1882 · page 224Read the page →
Read the text
Henry Nichols took the office and kept it three years, when his father, William A. Nichols, took it into his care for two or three years. Up to this time, the office was kept just over the line in Winfield Township, Lake Co. Mr. Porter next took the post office and removed it across the line into Porter Township, and was holding it at the time of his death, after which the office was discontinued. There was a post office as early as 1844, at the "Porter Cross- Roads, " known as the Porter Cross-Roadi Post Office. This was closed about 1865. Ora B. French and E. J.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana1882 · page 416Read the page →
Read the text
THE county of Lake had its first political existence in the month of March, 1835, when the Commissioners of La Porte County, to which both Lake* and Porter were then attached, ordered that all the territory of Lake and as far east in Porter as the center of Range 6 west should constitute a township, to be known as Ross, named thus for an old settler, who, at that time, had been in the county of Lake one or more years, and who afterward, in 1836, was killed by the fall of a tree. The results of the election of township officers, held at the house of Cyrus Spurlock (in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Porter, 1865 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Porter. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1940Porter sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Porter.
Every building
Porter, building by building, 1893–1899
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Porter post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Porter rank for history?
Porter is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #347 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 Porter?
5 listings: 2 buildings and 3 historic districts, the Joseph Bailly Homestead, the Good Fellow Club Youth Camp and the Nike Missile Site C-32, with 28 contributing buildings. 34 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Porter?
9% of Porter’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
c. 1915
2005
2004
2003
