Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #213 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Griffin, Cornish, Round Barn and the Pleasant Lake Depot. Below: maps from 1942 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Steuben Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #213 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Steuben Township’s 6.8 sits near the middle of its state (58% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Steuben Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Steubenville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Steuben Township.
The Cornish Griffin Round Barn and Pleasant Lake Depot are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Steuben Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Keller & Son. These were the tirst bushiess enterprises of what is n..w known as Hudson. In 1867 Mrs. Elizabeth Clark caused to be laid out nine half-acre lots on the southwest quarter of section 31, in Steuben Township. These lots were platted and placed on record and called the village of North Benton, which is still the proper name for the town, though it is generally known as Hudson, the name of the postoffice.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in October, 1836, and settled in Steuben Township, where he lived till his death in 1856. He was a soldier in the army of 1812. The circumstances attending his death have never become known. He was on his way to Iowa with John Carter, of this township, for the purpose of locating land. He took passage on a steamboat at Dubuque for Mc Gregor, Iowa, from which place they intended to continue West; while making this passaaje, Mr. Perfect suddenly disappeared in the night, and has never been heard of since. It is
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Steuben Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Steuben Township.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Steuben Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Steuben Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #213 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.
Two places: the Griffin, Cornish, Round Barn (listed 1993) and the Pleasant Lake Depot (2001).
27% of Steuben Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
