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A+History
History · Rushville Township

Rushville Township’s post office opened in 1822, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #57 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

11 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1959 on, and the census since 1850.

1822first post office
11on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rushville Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rushville Township began

When was Rushville Township founded?

1822

The Rushville Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 742 in 18502020 census: 7,619204 years

How historic is Rushville Township?

A+

More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Rushville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Rushville Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rushville Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #57 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.

A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rushville Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1822, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194041.8% of homes (±4.8) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%A+National Register11 listings, 66 historic buildings, 86.2 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 96%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 91%

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 Rushville Township’s 86.2 sits above most of its state (80% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 66 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Rushville 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register11 places on the National Register.Old housesHalf of Rushville Township’s homes were built before 1950.Deep rootsA post office since 1822: 204 years of Rushville Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rushville Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rushville Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1950 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

11 listings protect 66 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
11
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
66
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Archibald M. Kennedy House
Archibald M. Kennedy HouseNorris Ford Covered Bridge, built 1916East Hill Cemetery
BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Archibald M. Kennedy HouseItalianate
Norris Ford Covered BridgeBuilt 1916
All 3 listings
East Hill CemeteryDistrict · listed 2014

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Rushville Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rushville Township.

Read it all →

Rush County was formed from the unorganized Delaware County April 1, 1822. On July 29 town lots were sold and the town started to form. A school had already been started in 1821 by Dr. W.B. Laughlin, who was a member of the Legislature when the county was formed, and is considered the founding father of the town. A jail was built, Charles Veeder, was the first postmaster in 1822, and a courthouse was built in 1823. The Dog Fennel Gazette was published in 1823. The railroad was built in 1850 and after that a bank, factories, mills, and grain elevators sprang up.

Rushville was the campaign headquarters for Wendell Willkie's 1940 presidential campaign against Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Willkie is buried in the city's East Hill Cemetery.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Rushville Township in 1888

Passages that mention Rushville Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

ents were John and Sarah Powell, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Kentucky. In 1832, thej' emigrated to Rush County, and settled three and one half miles northwest of Rushville, in Rushville Township, where they purchased a tract of wild land. There John and Sarah Powell continued…
History of Rush County, Indiana, from the earliest time to the present1888 · page 422Read the page →
Read the text

ents were John and Sarah Powell, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Kentucky. In 1832, thej' emigrated to Rush County, and settled three and one half miles northwest of Rushville, in Rushville Township, where they purchased a tract of wild land. There John and Sarah Powell continued to reside until their respective deaths. They were among the first settlers of Rush County, and did their share while here toward its development.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ents were John and Sarah Powell, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Kentucky. In 1832, they emigrated to Rush County, and settled three and one half miles northwest of Rushvilie, in Rushville Township, where they purchased a tract of wild land. There John and Sarah Powell continued …
history of rush county, indiana1888 · page 422Read the page →
Read the text

ents were John and Sarah Powell, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Kentucky. In 1832, they emigrated to Rush County, and settled three and one half miles northwest of Rushvilie, in Rushville Township, where they purchased a tract of wild land. There John and Sarah Powell continued to reside until their respective deaths. They were among the first settlers of Rush County, and did their share while here toward its development.

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

Rushville Township, 1880 to 1959

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Indiana (IN) - Rush County - Rushville - ED 70-11…
  3. 20th century
  4. 1913In the archiveRushville, Indiana, March 25, 1913
  5. 1916BuiltNorris Ford Covered Bridge is built
  6. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rushville Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1910s2 items
1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Indiana (IN) - Rush County - Rushville - ED 70-11 to 1818801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Indiana (IN) …Rushville, Indiana, March 25, 19131913Rushville, Indiana, March 25, 1913
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today15 recent
3rd Street, Rushville, IN20193rd Street, Rushville, IN3rd Street, Rushville, IN20193rd Street, Rushville, IN3rd Street, Rushville, IN20193rd Street, Rushville, IN3rd Street, Rushville, IN20193rd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, IN2nd Street, Rushville, IN20192nd Street, Rushville, INBooker T. Washington School in Rushville2011Booker T. Washington School in RushvilleWendell Lewis Willkie House2010Wendell Lewis Willkie HouseJohn K. Gowdy House, Rushville2010John K. Gowdy House, Rushville2010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for Rushville, Indiana20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for Rushville…Book
On the map

Rushville Township on the map, 1959 to 1988

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rushville Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rushville Township on the 1959 USGS mapRushville Township on the 1988 USGS map1959Rushville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rushville Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Indiana (IN) - Rush County - Rushville - ED 70-11 to 18
Retake this view1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Indiana (IN) - Rush County - Rushville - ED 70-11 to 18, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rushville Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Rushville Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,0001850190019502000Peak: 7,264

Between 742 and 7,264 people in every census since 1850.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rushville Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
D and R Airportairport
10cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rushville Township
BeboutCalvaryConcordCounty FarmDukeEast HillGreenKellyMatlockOrmes

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Walker TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAnderson Township1 historic placeAUnion Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJackson Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNoble TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPosey Township1 historic placeAOrange Township4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Rushville Township’s history

What year was Rushville Township founded?

The Rushville Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Rushville Township rank for history?

Rushville Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #57 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.

What is on the National Register in Rushville Township?

11 listings: 1 building, among them the Archibald M. Kennedy House (listed 1983, the first), 1 historic district, the East Hill Cemetery, with 2 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 66 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Rushville Township?

42% of Rushville Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1950.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.