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A−History
History · Whitewater Township

21% of Whitewater Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #255 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Snow Hill Covered Bridge and the Salmon Turrell Farmstead. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1890.

2on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Whitewater Township’s history

How historic is Whitewater Township?

A−

More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Whitewater Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Whitewater Township is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #255 of 593 in Indiana. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Whitewater Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 76%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 57%

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 Whitewater Township’s 7.3 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±15.9 points).

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 →

What stands out about Whitewater Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Whitewater Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

New Trenton
1817–today
Drewersburg
1837–1903
Sharptown
1878–1906
Rockdale
1891–1903
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AshbyDrewersburgNew TrentonRockdaleSharptown
Gone or out of use
Whitewater Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Whitewater Township
OtwellSnow

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

The story

How Whitewater Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Whitewater Township.

Read it all →

The Snow Hill Covered Bridge and Salmon Turrell Farmstead are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Whitewater Township, 1817 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1817Post officeThe New Trenton post office opens
  3. 1837Post officeThe Drewersburg post office opens
  4. 1878Post officeThe Sharptown post office opens
  5. 1894BuiltSnow Hill Covered Bridge is built
  6. 20th century
  7. 1903Post officeThe Drewersburg post office closes
  8. 1906Post officeThe Sharptown post office closes
  9. 1955On 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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Whitewater Township on the map, 1955 to 1988

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

Whitewater Township on the 1955 USGS mapWhitewater Township on the 1974 USGS mapWhitewater Township on the 1988 USGS map1955Cedar Grove 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 Whitewater Township.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Whitewater Township

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1995
Snow Hill Covered Bridge
BuildingsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Howe Truss1
Federal1
I-House1

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

People over time

Whitewater Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,00019001920194019601980200020202,706

Grew from 1,237 people in 1890 to 2,706 in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Whitewater Township

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

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Whitewater Township’s history

How does Whitewater Township rank for history?

Whitewater Township is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #255 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 Whitewater Township?

Two places: the Snow Hill Covered Bridge (listed 1995) and the Salmon Turrell Farmstead (2009).

How old are the homes in Whitewater Township?

21% of Whitewater Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±15.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1983.

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 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) 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.