Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Sharpsville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Sharpsville

Sharpsville’s post office opened in 1851, and 58% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1907 on and the census since 1880.

1851first post office
0on the National Register
58%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Sharpsville began

When was Sharpsville founded?

1851

The Sharpsville post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 280 in 18802020 census: 553175 years
Founding year: the first Sharpsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sharpsville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Sharpsville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Sharpsville’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 769 in 1990; 553 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sharpsville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Sharpsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sharpsville.

Read it all →

The town was named after founder E.M. Sharp, who originally was from Washington County, Pennsylvania. Sharp moved to Morgan County, Illinois in 1831, prior to relocating to Jennings County, Indiana in 1838. In spring 1849, he moved to Liberty Township. The town was platted on May 24, 1850, under the assumption that Sharpsville would become the county seat for Tipton Township (which became Tipton). A town square was incorporated into the town layout which became a public park rather than the location of a place of government. The town was incorporated in 1873, but it ceased to be incorporated by vote in 1881 and regained village status.

The Sharpsville post office has been in operation since 1851.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Sharpsville, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 769

Peaked at 769 in 1990; 553 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Sharpsville, 1851 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Sharpsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 769
By decade

Sharpsville, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Sharpsville, Indiana2016Sharpsville, IndianaSharpsville, Indiana Cropped2016Sharpsville, Indiana Cropped
On the map

Sharpsville on the map, 1960 to 1980

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

Sharpsville on the 1960 USGS mapSharpsville on the 1980 USGS map1960Kokomo East 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 Sharpsville.

Every building

Sharpsville, building by building, 1907–1915

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Sharpsville fire insurance map, 1907, sheet 11907Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Famous people

Famous people close to Sharpsville

Nobody well known was born in Sharpsville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Ryan WhiteAmerican AIDS spokesperson and "poster boy" · b. 1971
Strother MartinAmerican actor · b. 1919
Miriam SeegarAmerican actress and interior decorator · b. 1907
Norman BridwellAmerican author · b. 1928
A
Ahmed JohnsonAmerican football player and professional wrest… · b. 1963
Elwood HillisAmerican politician · b. 1926

Questions about Sharpsville’s history

What year was Sharpsville founded?

The Sharpsville post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.