Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMore historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #357 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Richland Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: maps from 1908 on.
More historic than 54% 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 54% of U.S. towns, #357 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 36.9 sits above most of its state (72% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 56 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Richland Township.
Ennis Archaeological Site, Maple Grove Road Rural Historic District, Matthews Stone Company Historic District, and Leroy Mayfield House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Richland Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Richland Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #357 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.
3 listings: 1 building, among them the Leroy Mayfield House (listed 1994, the first), and 1 historic district, the Matthews Stone Company Historic District, with 5 contributing buildings. 56 historic buildings in all.
4% of Richland Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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