Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1955 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richland Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Richland Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Richland 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Richland Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Richland Township is one of fifteen townships in DeKalb County, Indiana. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,235, down from 1,333 at 2010, and it contained 510 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,333 to 1,235 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Richland Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
little township of Troy. It is six miles long north and south, and two and a half miles wide east and west, thus containing twelve whole and six fractional sections. It is bounded on the north by Richland Township, Steuben County, on t hecast by the State of Ohio, on the south by the township of Stafford, and on the west by the township of Franklin. Fish Creek enters the township from the northwest, passes through the center, and crosses the State line a mile north of the southeast
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 Richland 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 Richland Township.
Nobody well known was born in Richland Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Richland Township is more historic than 66% 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.
44% of Richland Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
