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History · Walker Township

Walker Township’s post office opened in 1833, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1890.

1833first post office
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Walker Township began

When was Walker Township founded?

1833

The Walker Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Walker (1833) and Goddard (1840), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,334 in 18902020 census: 800193 years
Founding year: the first Walker Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Walker Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Walker Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Walker Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Walker Township’s homes were built before 1954.Deep rootsA post office since 1833: 193 years of Walker Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Walker Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Walker Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Walker
1833–1840
Goddard
1840–1852
Manilla
1840–today
Homer
1854–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HomerManilla
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Walker Township
GoddardHurstSells

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Walker Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Walker Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Walker Township is one of twelve townships in Rush County, Indiana. As of the 2020 census, its population was 800 and it contained 350 housing units. Walker Township was organized in 1826.

Its first post office opened in 1833. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 856 to 800 (-7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Walker Township in 1888

Passages that mention Walker Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Manilla is the third town in commercial importance in the county, is located in Walker Township, on the line of the Cambridge division of the J., M. & I. Railroad. The town was originally laid out January 4, 1836, by Elias Murphy, Jonathan Murphy, Jacob Mull and J. Edward. The first plat consisted …
history of rush county, indiana1888 · page 664Read the page →
Read the text

Manilla is the third town in commercial importance in the county, is located in Walker Township, on the line of the Cambridge division of the J., M. & I. Railroad. The town was originally laid out January 4, 1836, by Elias Murphy, Jonathan Murphy, Jacob Mull and J. Edward. The first plat consisted of twenty-eight lots.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A school house stood at the corner of Walker Township, just north of Melvin Hungerford’s, where the four townships corner. Here in a log house were some excellent schools. Among the teachers here were Milton B. Hopkins, subsequently State Superintendent of Public Instruction, James Remington, A. G.…
history of rush county, indiana1888 · page 825Read the page →
Read the text

A school house stood at the corner of Walker Township, just north of Melvin Hungerford’s, where the four townships corner. Here in a log house were some excellent schools. Among the teachers here were Milton B. Hopkins, subsequently State Superintendent of Public Instruction, James Remington, A. G. Mauzy, Ephraim Wright and Harvey Stewart taught here in the forties.

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.

Timeline

Walker Township, 1833 to 1960

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1833Post officeThe Walker post office opens
  3. 1840Post officeThe Walker post office closes
  4. 1840Post officeThe Goddard post office opens
  5. 1840Post officeThe Manilla post office opens
  6. 1852Post officeThe Goddard post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Walker Township on the map, 1960 to 1988

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Walker Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Walker Township on the 1960 USGS mapWalker Township on the 1988 USGS map1960Manilla sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Walker Township.

People over time

Walker Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,361

Between 800 and 1,361 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Walker Township’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Walker Township

Nobody well known was born in Walker Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Wilbur ShawAmerican racing driver · b. 1902
R
Roger SliferAmerican comic book writer, screenwriter, and t… · b. 1954
Margaret Hill McCarterTeacher, writer · b. 1890
Mike PhippsAmerican football player · b. 1947
W
Wilfred SmithAmerican football player · b. 1899
W
William Victor HigginsAmerican painter · b. 1884
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Orange Township4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRushville Township11 historic placesA+

Questions about Walker Township’s history

What year was Walker Township founded?

The Walker Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.