Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Shadeland was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Its Register listings are the Stidham United Methodist Church and the Farmers Institute. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1961 on, and the census since 1990.
The Shadeland post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Farmers Institute (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shadeland is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. 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 Shadeland’s 10.4 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
From Wikipedia’s history of Shadeland.
A post office was established at Shadeland in 1887, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1915.
Farmers Institute and Stidham United Methodist Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveEverett Shoemaker, tenant farmer, moving off his farm near Shadeland, Indiana
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1937Everett Shoemaker, tenant farmer, moving off his farm…
1937Workers filing saw used to cut trees in background. N…
1937Everett Shoemaker, tenant farmer near Shadeland, Indi…
1937Furniture being moved out of the farmhouse of Everett…
1937Removing furniture from truck during moving operation…
1937Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker, tenant farmers, who are movin…
1937Removing tools from shed during moving operations of …
1937Packing chickens in crates during moving operations o…
1937Everett Shoemaker is serving lunch to the neighbors w…
1937Everett Shoemaker, tenant farmer, during moving opera…
1937Everett Shoemaker and his wife serve lunch to the nei…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shadeland. 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 Shadeland.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Shadeland’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,610 and 1,757 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shadeland’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Shadeland itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Shadeland had its own post office from 1887 to 1915. Another post office, Farmers Institute, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Shadeland post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Shadeland is more historic than 40% 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.
Two places: the Stidham United Methodist Church (listed 1992) and the Farmers Institute (2020).
6% of Shadeland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 the Library of Congress (11), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
