More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #466 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Utica Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2007. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1880.
From Utica Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Utica Township began
When was Utica Township founded?
1817
The Utica Township post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Prather (1878), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 525 in 18802020 census: 8,158209 years
How historic is Utica Township?
C
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Utica Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Utica Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Utica Township is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #466 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Utica Township’s overall grade.
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 Utica 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Utica Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1970 and 1990, then more than doubled.
7 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Utica Township’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Utica Township on the map, 1905 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Utica Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Prospect sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Utica Township.
From 1794 to 1825, Utica served as a key ferry crossing of the Ohio River. Its location provided a safer alternative to the river crossings at Jeffersonville, where the nearby Falls of the Ohio presented navigational hazards.
James Noble Wood was the first ferryman and founder of Utica. In 1801 he was appointed by Governor W. H. Harrison as one of the justices of the court of general quarter of Clarke of the Territory of Indiana at Springville, Indiana.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Utica Township post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Utica Township rank for history?
Utica Township is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #466 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.
How old are the homes in Utica Township?
2% of Utica Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 2007.
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 (6), Wikipedia, 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.
2025
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2025
2012
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