Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Union Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Union Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Union Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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 Union Township.
Union Township was established on 1 January 1951 from the merger of Nettle Creek Township and West River Township.
Confusingly, another Union Township was proposed in Randolph County in 1838. This Union Township was either short lived or was never formed. It would have consisted of the northern half of the existing West River Township
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Union Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Union Township was created by the Commissioners in March, 1838, four miles square, at the north end of West River, leaving West River four miles square. A remonstrance was afterward presented against the formation of Union Township, and it is ‘to be presumed that the township was dissolved asi t is not now in existence, though no record has been found of such action on the books of the Commissioners.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Union Township was created by the Commissioners in March, 1838, four miles square, at the north end of West River, leavin West River four miles square. A remonstrance was ahereard presented against the formation of Union Township, and it is to be presumed that the township was dissolved asi t is not now in existence, though no record has been found of such action on the books of the Commissioners.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Union Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Union Township is more historic than 64% 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.
40% of Union Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 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.