Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Bozeman-Waters National Bank. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1870.
The Poseyville post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Poseyville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Poseyville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Poseyville.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Poseyville.
The town of Poseyville was originally called Palestine when the town was first surveyed and laid out by James Smith on February 28, 1840. The town was set up along the New Harmony-Princeton coach line. The new town was recorded at the Posey County Recorder's Office on November 20, 1840.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Poseyville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Poseyville was laid out by Ellison Cale and Talbott Sharp February i8, 1840. Until 1852 it was called Palestine, when, in order to secure a post office, the name was changed. It is situated twenty-four miles northeast of Mt. Vernon, in a fine agricultural section of the county, at the intersection of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the Illinois Central railroads. For a number of years after the town was laid out its growth was quite slow, but within the last decade it has grown quite rapidly.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Poseyville Milling Company, flour manufacturers and merchant millers, Poseyville. Incorporated in June, 1908, with a capital of $25,000. President, M. T. Dilger; vice-president, Joseph F. Schaefer; secretary, treasurer and manager, Joseph L. Shafer. Plant is modern. Has a capacity of seventy-five barrels of flour per day. The company also operates a coal yard in connection with their milling business. The Poseyville Light and Power Company, incorporated in May. 1908, v.-ith a capital of $10,000, and having the same officers as the milling company,
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.
2023Fletchall Avenue and Cale Street
2023Fletchall Avenue and Cale Street
2023Fletchall Avenue and Cale Street
2023Fletchall Avenue and Cale Street
2023Fletchall Avenue and Cale Street
2023First National Bank of Poseyville Building (Bender Bu…
2023First National Bank of Poseyville Building (Bender Bu…
2023First National Bank of Poseyville Building (Bender Bu…
2023Cale Street
2023Cale Street
2022The Red Wagon
2016Poseyville, Indiana
2016Poseyville post office 47633
2016Poseyville Christian Church
2011Main Street in downtown
2011First National Bank in
2010Lunch stop on the way West
2009Historic Fifth Third Bank Building, Main StreetFire 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.
1900Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 213 and 1,247 people in every census since 1870.
15 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Poseyville’s Wikipedia page.
The Poseyville post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Bozeman-Waters National Bank (listed 1987).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
