Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #225 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1880.
The Whiting post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1889.
Whiting was named after a trainman who was killed in a crash there.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Whiting is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #225 of 593 in Indiana. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls 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 Whiting’s 15.4 sits above most of its state (66% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Whiting. 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 Whiting.
From Wikipedia’s history of Whiting.
A post office was first established at Whiting in 1871. Whiting was incorporated as a town in 1895. It was named after a trainman who was killed in a crash there. Whiting was incorporated as a city in 1903.
The Hoosier Theater Building, Henry and Caroline Schrage House, and Whiting Memorial Community House are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 10,880 in 1930; 4,559 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Whiting’s Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Whiting, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Whiting and the ' ' Standard ' ' The territory between Wolf Lake and Lake George and Lake Michigan, which is now covered by the City of Whiting and the vast storage plant of the Standard Oil Company, was known in pioneer times as Calumet. The place was afterward called Whiting's Crossing. In 1870 the first store was opened at that locality by Henry Schrage, and when a postoffice was established there in the following year he was appointed postmaster. Although Whiting was made a regular station on the Michigan
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
izing the Ohio crude oils, the Standard Oil Company purchased his patents and initiated them at Lima, Ohio, and afterward at its new plant at Whiting. The erection of the Whiting works began in the year 1889, and the refining petroleum was begun in the fall of 1890. The construction embraced 80 600-barrel crude stills, which number was afterwards increased to 150. The Frasch method of 'sweetening' the Ohio crudes was to pass the hot vapors of petroleum over copper oxide contained in chambers and stirred with cylindrical brushes during distil-
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.
Born hereIrene Purcell is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveStandard Oil Plant of
Born hereFerid Murad is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1896Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Whiting’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Whiting’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Whiting post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1889.
Whiting is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #225 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Whiting Memorial Community House (listed 1980, the first). 7 historic buildings in all.
66% of Whiting’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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