Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #332 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Bonneyville Mills. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1920.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, York Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #332 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 York Township’s 2.3 sits near the middle of its state (49% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 York Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of York Township.
York Township was named after the state of New York, the point of origin of many of its early settlers.
Bonneyville Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention York Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
York Township Also Formed York Township came into existence at the same time with Union. This is the fractional township 38 north, range 7 east, originally a part of Aliddlebury, which, as one of the oldest and most extensive townships, on that date took on the limits by which it is still known.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of York 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 York Township.
The 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.
Grew from 572 people in 1920 to 4,291 in 2020, 7 times over.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on York Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in York Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Vistula, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
York Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #332 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.
One place: the Bonneyville Mills (listed 1976).
15% of York Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
