Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns · #234 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Vernon Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1959 on, and the census since 1850.
The Vernon Township post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Butler's Switch (1875) and Grayford (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Vernon Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #234 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Vernon Township’s 147 sits above most of its state (84% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 42 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vernon 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveStreet in Vernonlabel QS:Len,"Street in Vernon"
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGENERAL VIEW FROM SOUTH TH NORTH SHOWING RAILROAD OVERPASS IN DISTANCE, DEPOT AND INN IN …From Wikipedia’s history of Vernon Township.
Vernon was named after Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation estate in Virginia. The Vernon post office was established in 1817.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vernon 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 Vernon 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 Vernon 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.
Between 236 and 690 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Vernon Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Vernon Township post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Vernon Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #234 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.
9% of Vernon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), 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.
Date?
2015
2001