Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Shipshewana

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 · Shipshewana

Shipshewana’s post office opened in 1889, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1920.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Shipshewana began

When was Shipshewana founded?

1889

The Shipshewana post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 248 in 19202020 census: 839137 years
Founding year: the first Shipshewana post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Shipshewana’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 Shipshewana are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shipshewana’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shipshewana’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 Shipshewana came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Shipshewana.

Read it all →

Shipshewana was named after a local Potawatomi Indian. The Shipshewana post office was established in 1889.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Shipshewana, 1889 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Shipshewana post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1968Born hereShelli Yoder is born here
By decade

Shipshewana, decade by decade

Today12 recent
Train Stn 2019-04-23 0392019Train Stn 2019-04-23 039Hubbard Feed 2019-04-23 0132019Hubbard Feed 2019-04-23 013An Amish farmer guides his team of horses and farm equipment down a rural road near Shipshewana in Elkhart County, Indi…2016An Amish farmer guides his team of horses and farm eq…A Quonset barn in LaGrange County, Indiana, near the town of Shipshewana2016A Quonset barn in LaGrange County, Indiana, near the …Well-used windmill in LaGrange County, Indiana, near the town of Shipshewana2016Well-used windmill in LaGrange County, Indiana, near …Shipshewana, Indiana2016Shipshewana, IndianaWeaver-Furniture-Store2009Weaver-Furniture-StoreJrb 20071024 Mennonite Amish buggy2007Jrb 20071024 Mennonite Amish buggyShipshewana-indiana-farm-house2005Shipshewana-indiana-farm-houseShipshewana-indiana-dutch-country2005Shipshewana-indiana-dutch-countryShipshewana-indiana-blue-cafe2005Shipshewana-indiana-blue-cafeShipshewana-indiana-amish-buggy2005Shipshewana-indiana-amish-buggy
On the map

Shipshewana on the map, 1961 to 1985

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

Shipshewana on the 1961 USGS mapShipshewana on the 1985 USGS map1961Shipshewana 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 Shipshewana.

People over time

Shipshewana, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020839

Grew from 248 people in 1920 to 839 in 2020, 3 times over.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Shipshewana’s history

What year was Shipshewana founded?

The Shipshewana post office opened in 1889, 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 (9), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.