Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #498 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Wheatfield Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1900.
The Wheatfield Township post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Stoutsberg (1890) and Kersey (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wheatfield Township is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #498 of 593 in Indiana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Wheatfield Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Wheatfield 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Wheatfield Township.
Wheatfield had its start in the early 1880s by the building of the railroad through that territory. The Wheatfield post office was established in 1882. Wheatfield was named for the field of swamp grass that looked like fields of wheat.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveWheatfield, Indiana (1915)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wheatfield 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 Wheatfield 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 Wheatfield Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 366 people in 1900 to 904 in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wheatfield Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Wheatfield Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Wheatfield Township post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wheatfield Township is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #498 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.
10% of Wheatfield 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 1991.
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 (6), 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.
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