The story
Read it all →How Spencer Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Spencer Township.
The Spencerville Covered Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: BeckyAnne · Public domainAHistory
History · Spencer Township
62% of Spencer Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Spencerville Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1958 on.
1on the National Register
62%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Spencer Township’s history
How historic is Spencer Township?
A
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Spencer Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spencer Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Spencer Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194062.2% of homes (±26.5) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%A+National Register1 listing, 10.0 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 91%
NewerOlder
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 Spencer Township’s 10.0 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±26.5 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
What stands out about Spencer Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Spencer Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spencer Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Spencer Township, 1839 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1839Post officeThe Spencerville post office opens
- 1873
BuiltSpencerville Covered Bridge is built - 20th century
- 1958
On 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 albumOn the map
Spencer Township on the map in 1958
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spencer Township.
1958Saint Joe sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Spencer Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Spencer Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1981
Spencerville Covered Bridge
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Spencer Township
Nobody well known was born in Spencer Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Spencerville
Gone or out of use
Spencerville Pitmine
1cemetery inside Spencer Township
White City
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Spencer Township’s history
How does Spencer Township rank for history?
Spencer Township is more historic than 91% 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.
What is on the National Register in Spencer Township?
One place: the Spencerville Covered Bridge (listed 1981).
How old are the homes in Spencer Township?
62% of Spencer Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±26.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1938.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.