The story
Read it all →How Posey Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Posey Township.
The Offutt Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
AHistory
History · Posey Township
43% of Posey Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Offutt Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1890.
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Posey Township’s history
How historic is Posey Township?
A
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Posey Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Posey Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 2 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 Posey Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194042.8% of homes (±13.3) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%A+National Register1 listing, 7.7 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 88%
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 Posey Township’s 7.7 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±13.3 points).
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 Posey 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 Posey Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Posey Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Posey Township’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Posey Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Posey 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, places now gone and burying grounds
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Beech Grove
Hannegan
Sumner
Arlington
Henderson
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ArlingtonHenderson
Gone or out of use
Summer Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Posey Township
BallEast Hill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Posey Township in 1888
Passages that mention Posey Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
history of rush county, indiana1888 · page 339Read the page →
Read the text
on land now the property of Purnell Bishop. Some years later Adam Ammon put up a grist and saw mill, which is now known as Nipp’s mill. A Mr. Carr had a mill also on Flat Rock a mile above Raleigh. In Posey Township Jacob Reed built the first mill, and soon after Jonathan Ball built a grist and saw mill. These were the mills that were sufficient to supply the wants of the early settlers, but as the country became cleared up and its resources developed there was a demand for larger and better mills and factories
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Rush County, Indiana, from the earliest time to the present1888 · page 339Read the page →
Read the text
on land now the property of Purnell Bishop. Some years later Adam i\mmon put up a grist and saw mill, which is now known as Nipp's mill. A Mr. Carr had a mill also on Flat Rock a mile above Raleigh. In Posey Township" Jacob Reed built the first mill, and soon after Jonathan Ball built a grist and saw mill. These were the mills that were sufficient to supphthe wants of the early settlers, but as the country became cleared up and its resources developed there was a demand for larger and better mills and factories
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
Posey Township, 1833 to 1960
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1833Post officeThe Beech Grove post office opens
- 1848Post officeThe Hannegan post office opens
- 1862Post officeThe Sumner post office opens
- 1869Post officeThe Hannegan post office closes
- 1875Post officeThe Beech Grove post office closes
- 1878Post officeThe Sumner post office closes
- 1884
BuiltOffutt Covered Bridge is built - 20th century
- 1960
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Posey Township, decade by decade
2021
2012On the map
Posey Township on the map, 1960 to 1988
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Posey Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960Carthage 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 Posey Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Posey 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
1983
Offutt Covered Bridge
Structures
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Posey Township, census by census
Between 1,078 and 1,708 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Posey Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Posey Township
Nobody well known was born in Posey 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 Posey Township’s history
How does Posey Township rank for history?
Posey Township is more historic than 88% 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 Posey Township?
One place: the Offutt Covered Bridge (listed 1983).
How old are the homes in Posey Township?
43% of Posey Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.