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B−History
History · St. John

St. John dates to 1837, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #365 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Most of St. John was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Its Register listing is the Keilman, Francis P. House. Its Register listing is the Keilman, Francis P. House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1880.

1837founded
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From St. John’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How St. John began

When was St. John founded?

1837

St. John dates its founding to 1837 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 40 in 18802020 census: 20,303189 years

How historic is St. John?

B−

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1846.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives St. John’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. John is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #365 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. John’s overall grade.
Founding era1837, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19402.9% of homes (±1.5) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 3 historic buildings, 1.3 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 53%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 39%

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 St. John’s 1.3 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1837.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 →

What stands out about St. John’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1837: 189 years of St. John.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. John’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewStJohnIN: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

St. John, 1837 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837
    FoundingSt. John is established
  3. 1846Post officeThe Saint John post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1974Born hereJared Tomich is born here
The story

How St. John came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. John.

Read it all →

The St. John post office was established in 1846. The community took its name from Saint Johns Church. The Church was the first church in Lake County and was founded by German immigrant John Hack.

St. John is home to the Shrine of Christ's Passion, opened in 2008. An interactive display of the Passion of Christ, it contains 40 life-size statues depicting the time from the Agony in the Garden all the way to the Resurrection. It has attracted visitors from all 50 US states and more than 40 countries.

The Francis P. Keilman House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about St. John in 1910

Passages that mention St. John, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The peninsula south of this street, which now contains the business part of the city of St. John, and which was laid out for the Loyalists in 1783 as Parr-town, was not included in the grant. The primary object of the grantees was evidently the limestone quarries and the big marsh, and they probabl…
The river St. John, its physical features, legends and history, from 1604 to 17841910 · page 384Read the page →
Read the text

The peninsula south of this street, which now contains the business part of the city of St. John, and which was laid out for the Loyalists in 1783 as Parr-town, was not included in the grant. The primary object of the grantees was evidently the limestone quarries and the big marsh, and they probably deemed the land south of Union Street hardly worth the quit rents.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
James Simonds may be considered the founder of the first permanent settlement at the mouth of the River Saint John. The attention of Mr. Simonds may have been particularly directed to St. John by the fact that his relative, Captain Moses Hazen, was stationed there in the Fort Frederick garrison in …
The river St. John, its physical features, legends and history, from 1604 to 17841910 · page 270Read the page →
Read the text

James Simonds may be considered the founder of the first permanent settlement at the mouth of the River Saint John. The attention of Mr. Simonds may have been particularly directed to St. John by the fact that his relative, Captain Moses Hazen, was stationed there in the Fort Frederick garrison in 1759. A few years ago the writer of this book had the good fortune to discover in a rubbish heap a letter in which James Simonds

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.

By decade

St. John, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
StJohnINDate?StJohnIN
Today8 recent
Homestead Acres Park in Saint John, IN2025Homestead Acres Park in Saint John, INBull Run Creek2025Bull Run CreekBull Run Creek in winter2025Bull Run Creek in winterBird's Eye View, 1912 -closeup2015Bird's Eye View, 1912 -closeupFrancis P. Keilman House2013Francis P. Keilman HouseOur Lady of the New Millenium2011Our Lady of the New MilleniumTwo Girls in Western Outfits, 19092008Two Girls in Western Outfits, 1909Bon-Air Motel, circa 19552006Bon-Air Motel, circa 1955
On the map

St. John on the map, 1953 to 1992

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

St. John on the 1953 USGS mapSt. John on the 1962 USGS mapSt. John on the 1980 USGS mapSt. John on the 1992 USGS map1953St John 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 St. John.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

StJohnIN
Retake this viewStJohnIN

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on St. John’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in St. John

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2013
Keilman, Francis P. House
Keilman, Francis P. House
Buildings
Keilman, Francis P. HouseBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

St. John, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,0001880190019201940196019802000202020,303

Grew from 40 people in 1880 to 20,303 in 2020, more than tenfold.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

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
Saint John
Gone or out of use
Lake Hills Golf and Country Clublocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. John
Hack FamilySaint John

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.

ScherervilleIts storyC−St. John Township2 historic placesB−Hanover Township1 historic placeC

Questions about St. John’s history

What year was St. John founded?

In 1837, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. St. John’s post office opened in 1846, and the census of 1880 counted 40 people here.

How does St. John rank for history?

St. John is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #365 of 593 in Indiana. 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 St. John?

One place: the Keilman, Francis P. House (listed 2013).

How old are the homes in St. John?

3% of St. John’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 2003.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (9), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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), 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.