Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Smith Township

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 · Smith Township

33% of Smith Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1938 on and the census since 1890.

0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Smith Township’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 Smith Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Smith Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Smith Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Smith Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Scaffold Prairie
1840–1856
Lone Tree
1857–1862
Lonetree
1897–1906
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lone Tree
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Smith Township
CampbellFullerScafford Prairie

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Smith Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Smith Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Smith Township is one of fifteen townships in Greene County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 387, slightly up from 383 at 2010.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 383 in 2010, 387 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Smith Township, 1840 to 1938

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840Post officeThe Scaffold Prairie post office opens
  3. 1856Post officeThe Scaffold Prairie post office closes
  4. 1857Post officeThe Lone Tree post office opens
  5. 1862Post officeThe Lone Tree post office closes
  6. 1897Post officeThe Lonetree post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1906Post officeThe Lonetree post office closes
  9. 1938On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Smith Township on the map, 1938 to 1986

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

Smith Township on the 1938 USGS mapSmith Township on the 1947 USGS mapSmith Township on the 1950 USGS mapSmith Township on the 1963 USGS mapSmith Township on the 1986 USGS map1938Switz City 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 Smith Township.

People over time

Smith Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,023

Between 344 and 1,023 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Jefferson TownshipIts storyBLewis Township1 historic placeAWright TownshipIts storyB+

Questions about Smith Township’s history

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 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.