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ScherervillePhoto: JoeyBLS · Public domain
C−History
History · Schererville

Schererville’s post office opened in 1866

More historic than 17% of U.S. towns · #556 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Most of Schererville was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1920.

1866first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Schererville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Schererville began

When was Schererville founded?

1866

The Schererville post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 483 in 19202020 census: 29,646160 years

How historic is Schererville?

C−

More historic than 17% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Schererville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Schererville is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #556 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Schererville’s overall grade.
Founding era1866, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.3% of homes (±1.1) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IN town 7.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 17%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 6%

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 Schererville’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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. 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 Schererville’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Schererville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Schererville’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 viewOmni supesrstore: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Schererville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Schererville.

Read it all →

Long before Indiana became a state, long before the founding of Schererville, people called the area the "Crossroads," as several Native American trails intersected here, that later became routes for the wagons of settlers traveling west.

One of those settlers was Nicholas Scherer, who was born in 1830 at Scheuern, today part of Tholey, Saarland, in southwestern Germany, who arrived in the U.S. in 1846. When he came to this place at the southern tip of Lake Michigan in 1865, he founded the community that bears his name.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Schererville, 1866 to 1991

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Post officeThe Schererville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1991In the archiveOmni supesrstore
By decade

Schererville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1990s1 item
Omni supesrstore1991Omni supesrstore
Today17 recent
US41nRoadSign-NorthofUS302018US41nRoadSign-NorthofUS30Enbridge hartsdale mother duck tank2014Enbridge hartsdale mother duck tankEnbridge hartsdale mother duck construction2014Enbridge hartsdale mother duck constructionIlliana Motor Speedway 20122012Illiana Motor Speedway 2012Omni superstore 32007Omni superstore 3Sauzer's Waffle Shop, circa 19702007Sauzer's Waffle Shop, circa 1970PostcardSauzer's Waffle Shop, circa 19602007Sauzer's Waffle Shop, circa 1960PostcardSauzer's Kiddieland, circa 19602007Sauzer's Kiddieland, circa 1960PostcardPowerboats at Kiddieland Amusement Park, 19592007Powerboats at Kiddieland Amusement Park, 1959PostcardPleasant Hours, circa 19102007Pleasant Hours, circa 1910PostcardMerry-Go-Round at Sauzer's Kiddieland, circa 19652007Merry-Go-Round at Sauzer's Kiddieland, circa 1965PostcardGrotto, circa 1920s2007Grotto, circa 1920sPostcardGeneric Postcard, circa 19102007Generic Postcard, circa 1910PostcardFather Campagna's Hoosier Boys' Town, circa 19702007Father Campagna's Hoosier Boys' Town, circa 1970PostcardSchererville2006ScherervilleRadiant Hotel, circa 19702006Radiant Hotel, circa 1970PostcardUS-IN-Schererville2005US-IN-Schererville
On the map

Schererville on the map, 1953 to 1992

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

Schererville on the 1953 USGS mapSchererville on the 1962 USGS mapSchererville on the 1980 USGS mapSchererville on the 1992 USGS map1953St John 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 Schererville.

People over time

Schererville, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00019201940196019802000202029,646

Grew from 483 people in 1920 to 29,646 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Schererville’s post office has been open since 1866.

Hamlets and corners on the map
HartsdaleRolling Hill Estates
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Schererville
Chapel Lawn Memorial GardensMemory Lane Memorial ParkPleasant ViewSaint Michael's

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.

Dyer1 historic placeB−Griffith3 historic placesC+St. John1 historic placeB−St. John Township2 historic placesB−Calumet Township32 historic placesB+

Questions about Schererville’s history

What year was Schererville founded?

The Schererville post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Schererville rank for history?

Schererville is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #556 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.

How old are the homes in Schererville?

2% of Schererville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1989.

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 (18), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.