The story
Read it all →How Salem Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Salem Township.
The Richwood Evangelical Lutheran Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Salem Township
19% of Salem Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #257 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Richwood Evangelical Lutheran Church. Below: maps from 1960 on.
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Salem Township’s history
How historic is Salem Township?
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What drives the grade ↓More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Salem Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Salem Township is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #257 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Salem Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194019.2% of homes (±4.6) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 3 historic buildings, 7.4 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 76%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 57%
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 Salem Township’s 7.4 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points).
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 →
What stands out about Salem Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Salem Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Salem Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Salem Township, 1879 to 1960
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1879Post officeThe Crossroads post office opens
- 20th century
- 1901Post officeThe Crossroads post office closes
- 1960
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Salem Township on the map, 1960 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Salem Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960Middletown sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Salem Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Salem Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Richwood Evangelical Lutheran Church
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Mid-19th Century1
Gothic Revival1
T-Plan Cottage1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Salem Township
Nobody well known was born in Salem Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Crossroads, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cross Roads
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Salem Township
SaundersSharpSunderland
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.
Questions about Salem Township’s history
How does Salem Township rank for history?
Salem Township is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #257 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 Salem Township?
One place: the Richwood Evangelical Lutheran Church (listed 2004).
How old are the homes in Salem Township?
19% of Salem Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1966.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.