Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #220 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Eaglefield Place. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1950 on.
The Van Buren Township post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Van Buren (1835), Calcutta (1870) and Alexander (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Van Buren Township was named for Martin Van Buren, the ninth Vice President of the United States.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van Buren Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #220 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age 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 Van Buren Township’s 9.4 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Six 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Van Buren Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Van Buren Township.
Van Buren Township was established in the late 1830s. It was named for Martin Van Buren, the ninth Vice President of the United States. There is also a Dick Johnson Township in Clay County in honor of Richard Mentor Johnson, Van Buren's vice president.
Eaglefield Place was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Van Buren 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 Van Buren Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Van Buren Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 Van Buren Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Van Buren Township post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Van Buren Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #220 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.
One place: the Eaglefield Place (listed 1998).
20% of Van Buren Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 the Library of Congress (1), 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.
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