Founding year: the first Woodburn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Woodburn’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodburn is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Woodburn’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 Woodburn’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Woodburn’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1865 Joseph Edgerton and Joseph Smith platted the town of Woodburn, or Phelps Station as it was called at that time. The two men chose this area due to the abundant timber, fertile ground, and nearby river. After
two large, accidental fires in the area Joseph Edgerton sent his son Edward Edgerton to Woodburn to sell off large tracts of land for farming.
This area was first known as Phelps Station due to the train depot. There were five families and a post office. In September 1865 the town was again platted with the name Woodburn due to the enormous wood burnings to clear the land. In 1895 a group of local men decided to incorporate the town into Shirley City in honor of Senator Robert B Shirley.
Edwardsburg , a small hamlet on See. 18, contains one store and post office ; and Woodburn, a station on the Wabash Railway, also has a post office. MILAN TOWNSHIP. BY L. H. NEWTON.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Edwardsburg , a small hamlet ou Sec. 18, contains one storo and post office; and Woodburn , a station on the Wabash Ruilway, also has a post office. MILAN TOWNSHIP. BY L. H NEWTON.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
business man. He early became an investor in Allen County land, and is now among the largest owners of lands in that county, but they have proved more of a burden than a profit. With a view to the improvement and settlement of his unoccupied lands, in 1866, he established the Woodburn Lumber and Stave Mills, on his property in the eastern part of Allen County, but the mills were burned in 1867, involving a large loss, and not rebuilt. In 1871, he aided in establishing the Fort Wayne Steel Plow Works, and, in 1875, became their sole owner, and so continues.
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
Woodburn, 1865 to 1953
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
People over time
Woodburn, census by census
Between 236 and 1,579 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Woodburn’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Woodburn’s history
What year was Woodburn founded?
The Woodburn post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Woodburn rank for history?
Woodburn is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Woodburn?
18% of Woodburn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1976.
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), 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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