Winfield Township’s post office opened in 1848, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #334 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Most of Winfield Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Its Register listing is the John Ross Farm. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1984 on, and the census since 1990.
From Winfield Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Winfield Township began
When was Winfield Township founded?
1848
The Winfield Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1993. Another post office, Palmer (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 637 in 19902020 census: 12,927178 years
How historic is Winfield Township?
B
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Winfield Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1993.
History grade
What drives Winfield Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Winfield Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #334 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Winfield Township’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 Winfield Township’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1993.
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 →
What stands out about Winfield Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Winfield Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Winfield ( WIN-feeld) is a town in Winfield Township, Lake County, Indiana. As of the 2020 census, Winfield had a population of 7,181. The town was incorporated in 1993 in order to keep the residents from being annexed by other neighboring communities. Prior to that time it had been part of Winfield Township as an unincorporated town. Winfield is named for General Winfield Scott. The town is served by the Crown Point post office and addresses in Winfield share the Crown Point ZIP code. In 2014 Winfield formed a Marshal department for public safety and law enforcement duties, prior to that time police protection services were provided by the Lake County Sheriff's Department. Notable people f…
Its first post office opened in 1848. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 10,054 to 12,927 (+29%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Winfield Township in 1915
Passages that mention Winfield Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 267Read the page →
Read the text
ful occupations by the citizen soldiery, the discussion of the new railroad projected from the southeast toward Chicago was renewed with vigor by the leading citizens of Crown Point and such enterprising outsiders as Dennis Palmer, of Winfield Township. B,y his energy and generous donations of land Mr. Palmer did much to direct the right-of-way of the Pan Handle (Pennsylvania) Railroad to Crown Point. Its coming brought renewed life to the county seat and all the tributary country. The butter and eggs and prairie chickens, grain, hogs and cran-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 201Read the page →
Read the text
Leroy, however, is the oldest town in Winfield Township and the most prosperous. It is a product of the old Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, now the Pennsylvania line, but still popularly called the Panhandle. The road has also gone by the name of the Cincinnati Air Line, and in 1865, when it was completed through Lake County, Leroy was made a shipping station. Year by year it has gi'own in importance as a shipping center for hay and grain, especially the former. It has several good stores, a large brick schoolhouse and Methodist and United
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Winfield Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1984Kankakee sheet · 1:100,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Winfield 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.
Retake this viewLogo of Winfield, Indiana
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Winfield Township’s page.
The Winfield Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1993.
How does Winfield Township rank for history?
Winfield Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #334 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 Winfield Township?
One place: the John Ross Farm (listed 1996).
How old are the homes in Winfield Township?
4% of Winfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
Date?
2012
