Westville dates to 1851, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #430 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Westville was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Its Register listing is the Everel S. Smith House. Its Register listing is the Everel S. Smith House. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1870.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1842.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Westville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westville is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #430 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Westville’s overall grade.
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 Westville’s 1.9 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.9 points). Two sources give 1851.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Westville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Westville was platted in 1851, and incorporated as a town in 1864. It was a station and shipping point at the junction of two railroads.
Rev. John Milton Whitehead lived in Westville at the time of his enlistment as a chaplain in the 15th Indiana Infantry Regiment. Whitehead received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Stones River when he "went to the front during a desperate contest and unaided carried to the rear several wounded and helpless soldiers."
The Everel S. Smith House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Passages that mention Westville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana1904 · page 311Read the page →
Read the text
At the present time there are ten township high schools in LaPorte county and a high school in the town of Westville. They are all non-commissioned and all pursue a uniform three years’ course, with the exception of Wanatah and Westville, where a complete high school course covering four years is pursued.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana1904 · page 543Read the page →
Read the text
Perfecting his idea on his farm, he purchased a lot and erected a shop in the village of Westville in order to engage in the manufacture of reapers, and in the enterprise was associated with his sons at that place for five years. Mr. Amenzo Mann went upon the road to sell the reapers, and was traveling through Kentucky and Tennessee in that business in 1856 when Buchanan was making
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
Westville, 1842 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Westville’s post office has been open since 1852. Another post office, New Durham, opened and closed inside today’s town.
New Durham
1842–1868
Westville
1852–today
18401930today
Gone or out of use
Beatty Memorial Hospitalhospital
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Westville’s history
What year was Westville founded?
In 1851, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Westville’s post office opened in 1842, and the census of 1870 counted 640 people here.
How does Westville rank for history?
Westville is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #430 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 Westville?
One place: the Everel S. Smith House (listed 1990).
How old are the homes in Westville?
9% of Westville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1999.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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