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AHistory
History · Washington Township

Washington Township dates to 1815, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #123 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

10 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1944 on, and the census since 1850.

1815founded
10on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Washington Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Washington Township began, and where its name came from

When was Washington Township founded?

1815

Washington Township dates its founding to 1815 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 675 in 18502020 census: 16,054211 years

How did Washington Township get its name?

Washington Township was named from Washington Township.

How historic is Washington Township?

A

More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1817. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Washington Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Washington Township is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #123 of 593 in Indiana. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Washington Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1815, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194025.7% of homes (±4.5) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register10 listings, 99 historic buildings, 60.6 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 92%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 79%

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 60.6 sits above most of its state (77% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 99 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). Two sources give 1815.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Washington Township’s past

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

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Washington Township, and 6 old place names are still on the map.Landmarks on the Register10 places on the National Register.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1921–1941.Deep rootsEstablished in 1815: 211 years of Washington Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

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

Maysville
1855–1861
Lettsville
1869–1887
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GrahamJordanLettsvilleMaysvilleSouth WashingtonThomas
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Washington Township
ColbertHawkinsNew Veale CreekOak GroveSaint John

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

On the National Register

10 listings protect 99 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
10
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
99
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Jefferson Elementary School
Jefferson Elementary SchoolCounty Bridge #45, built 1903
BuildingsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Bungalow/Craftsman1
Pratt Through Truss1
Jefferson Elementary SchoolColonial Revival
County Bridge #45Pratt Through Truss · Built 1903

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

By decade

Washington Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1940s12 items
Coburg, Indiana1921Coburg, IndianaFarm boys eating ice-cream cones - DPLA - 410634d0123d8c5d78eef67b66fd9e251941Farm boys eating ice-cream cones - DPLA - 410634d0123…Ice cream bliss?!1941Ice cream bliss?!IceCreamBoysWashingtonIndiana19411941IceCreamBoysWashingtonIndiana1941Boys walking fence. Washington, Indiana1941Boys walking fence. Washington, IndianaBoys walking fence. Washington, Indiana1941Boys walking fence. Washington, IndianaFarm boys eating ice-cream cones. Washington, Indiana1941Farm boys eating ice-cream cones. Washington, IndianaUntitled photo, possibly related to: Boys walking fence. Washington, Indiana1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Boys walking fen…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Boys walking fence. Washington, Indiana1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Boys walking fen…John W. Dillard, real estate and insurance man. Washington, Indiana1941John W. Dillard, real estate and insurance man. Washi…Office of John W. Dillard, real estate and insurance agent. Washington, Indiana1941Office of John W. Dillard, real estate and insurance …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Farm boys eating ice-cream cones. Washington, Indiana1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Farm boys eating…
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
The story

How Washington Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Washington Township.

Read it all →

Washington was platted in 1815. It was named from Washington Township.

The railroad was built through Washington in 1857. By 1889, it was a major depot and repair yard for the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad took over the line in 1893. During this time, the railroad employed over 1,000 workers.

On November 17, 2013, an EF2 tornado tore through the western edge of the city destroying 20 homes and severely damaging 20 others.

The Magnus J. Carnahan House, Daviess County Courthouse, Thomas Faith House, Robert C. Graham House, Dr. John A. Scudder House, Washington Commercial Historic District, and Dr. Nelson Wilson House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Washington Township in 1904

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

The Suburban Electric Light Co. was incorporated June 14, 1901, with a capital of $500,000. It distributes light and power throughout Alameda County, including as a matter of course all the towns and homes in Washington Township. This Company secures its power from the Standard Electric Company and…
History of Washington Township, Alameda County, California1904 · page 43Read the page →
Read the text

The Suburban Electric Light Co. was incorporated June 14, 1901, with a capital of $500,000. It distributes light and power throughout Alameda County, including as a matter of course all the towns and homes in Washington Township. This Company secures its power from the Standard Electric Company and from the Bay Counties Company.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
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 pla…
History of Washington Township, Alameda County, California1904 · page 93Read the page →
Read the text

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.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Washington Township, 1815 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1815
    FoundingWashington Township is established
  3. 1855Post officeThe Maysville post office opens
  4. 1861Post officeThe Maysville post office closes
  5. 1869Post officeThe Lettsville post office opens
  6. 1887Post officeThe Lettsville post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1903BuiltCounty Bridge #45 is built
  9. 1921In the archiveCoburg, Indiana
  10. 1941In the archiveFarm boys eating ice-cream cones - DPLA - 410634d0123d8c5d78eef67b66fd9e25
  11. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Washington Township on the map, 1944 to 1980

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

Washington Township on the 1944 USGS mapWashington Township on the 1957 USGS mapWashington Township on the 1980 USGS map1944Washington 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 Washington Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Coburg, Indiana
Retake this viewCoburg, Indiana, 1921

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Washington Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Washington Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,000185019001950200012,017

Grew from 675 people in 1850 to 12,017 in 2020, more than tenfold.

17 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Washington Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCoburg, Indiana: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Steen Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVigo Township1 historic placeAVeale TownshipIts storyCHarrison TownshipIts storyC+Barr TownshipIts storyCSteele TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHarrison TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Washington Township’s history

What year was Washington Township founded?

In 1815, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Washington Township’s post office opened in 1817, and the census of 1850 counted 675 people here.

How does Washington Township rank for history?

Washington Township is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #123 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.

What is on the National Register in Washington Township?

10 listings: 1 building, among them the Jefferson Elementary School (listed 1997, the first), and 1 structure. 99 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Washington Township?

26% of Washington 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 1965.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.