Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #206 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 45 buildings. Below: maps from 1946 on and the census since 1890.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Washington Township is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #206 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Washington Township’s 264 sits above most of its state (91% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 137 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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.
Three 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 Washington Township’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Washington Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Washington Township.
The Brown County Bridge No. 36 and Theodore Clement Steele House and Studio are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Washington Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
D. D. Henion, who is a comparatively late comer to Warm Springs, is, however, an old pioneer of Washington Township. He arrived in the valley in the fall of 1850, and located on the Chadbourne place between Centreville and Irvington. In 1853 he moved to Niles, where he lived first on the Clough place and later on the H. G. Ellsworth place until April 4, 1873, when he moved to Warm Springs.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
June 2, 1807. A number of the inhabitants of the east end of Washington Township having petitioned for the formation of a new township, the prayer was granted and the new township was named Lewis. It extended from the east end of Washington Township (the Adams County line) down the Ohio to Bullskin Creek, and northward to the Denhamstown road. Clark Township was created by the Commissioners of Clermont County October 18, 18l)8, with the following boundaries: “ Beginning where the State road from Denhamstown to West Union crosses White Oak; thence running
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
January 15, 1831, at a meeting of the Trustees of Washington Township and the township of White Oak, in Highland County, District No. 4 was changed, a portion of it being added to White Oak Township, in the county named, for the convenience of the scholars thereof.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Washington 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 Washington Township.
The 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 Washington Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Washington Township is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #206 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.
6 listings: 1 building, among them the Theodore Clement Steele House and Studio (listed 1973, the first), 1 historic district, the Brown County State Park, with 45 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 137 historic buildings in all.
11% of Washington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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.
