Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Hall Farm. Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1920.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Prairie Township is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Prairie Township’s 13.9 sits above most of its state (66% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Prairie Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Prairie Township.
Prairie Township was organized in 1838 and named from its setting upon the prairie.
The Hall Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Prairie Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Isaac T. Smith. The records of early settlement in Kosciusko County contain few earlier dates than the year when Jacob Smith, father of the prosperous and well known farmer of Prairie Township, Isaac T. Smith, arrived here and acquired his first land in Prairie Township. The family has had a long and honorable history in connection with agricultural and local affairs since that time, extending over eight decades.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Isaac T. SmirH. The records of early settlement in Kosciusko County contain few earlier dates than the year when Jacob Smith, father of the prosperous and well known farmer of Prairie Township, Isaac T. Smith, arrived here and acquired his first land in Prairie Township. The family has had a long and honorable history in connection with agricultural and local affairs since that time, extending over eight decades.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings 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 Prairie Township. 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 Prairie Township.
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.
Grew from 855 people in 1920 to 1,774 in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Prairie Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Prairie Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Prairie Township is more historic than 69% 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.
One place: the Hall Farm (listed 1992).
15% of Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1981.
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).
From 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.
