Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Shelburn Interurban Depot-THI&E Interurban Depot. Below: old-book passages.
The Shelburn post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shelburn is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Shelburn’s 7.9 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shelburn’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shelburn.
Shelburn was named after the town's founder, Paschal Shelburn. The Shelburn post office has been in operation since 1861. An F4 tornado devastated the northwestern part of Shelburn on May 21, 1949, killing 14 people and destroying 160 homes.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Shelburn, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Shelburn was named for Paschal Shelburn, one of the early settlers of Curry township, who had purchased a large tract of land when he came here in 1818, and lived there until his death at the age of eighty. He was a bachelor. In 1855, al^out a year after the completion of the railroad, he platted a town on some of his land. There were 33 lots in the original plat, 24 being on the east side of the railroad and the remainder on the west side.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.![Feb. 7, 1883 — ]\Ii"ners employed by the Shelburn Coal Co. at Sullivan and Shelburn are out on a strike. The price paid here has been $1.06 a ton, at Shelburn 90 cents. On Feb. ist price was reduced at Sullivan to 86 cents and 69 cents at Shelburn because the railroad refuses to pay over one dollar…](https://images.townratings.com/story/4701/bk-81d4b724078b5ab4-l.jpg)
Feb. 7, 1883 — ]\Ii"ners employed by the Shelburn Coal Co. at Sullivan and Shelburn are out on a strike. The price paid here has been $1.06 a ton, at Shelburn 90 cents. On Feb. ist price was reduced at Sullivan to 86 cents and 69 cents at Shelburn because the railroad refuses to pay over one dollar a ton : price has been $1.25.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Shelburn post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Shelburn is more historic than 51% 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.
One place: the Shelburn Interurban Depot-THI&E Interurban Depot (listed 2015).
14% of Shelburn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
2016