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History · Crawfordsville

Crawfordsville’s post office opened in 1870, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Crawfordsville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Its Register listing is the Crawfordsville Bridge. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1900 on.

1870first post office
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Crawfordsville began

When was Crawfordsville founded?

1870

The Crawfordsville post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 315156 years
Founding year: the first Crawfordsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Crawfordsville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crawfordsville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPhotograph of a Sikh cyclist whose name…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Crawfordsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crawfordsville.

Read it all →

Crawfordsville was founded on the land of Philemon Vawter Crawford in 1870 by Crawford and Robert Glass. When the post office was established in 1870, it was named for Crawford. Crawford was born in Madison, Indiana, in 1814 and he arrived in Oregon via the Oregon Trail in 1851. His son, Jasper V. Crawford, was the first postmaster. Philemon Crawford had previously helped establish the Boston Flour Mill near Shedd.

In 1915 Crawfordsville had a population of 300, two sawmills, a flouring mill, a high school, an elementary school, and three churches.

In the early 20th century, Crawfordsville had a population of Sikhs from Pakistan and India who worked for the Calapooya Lumber Company.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Crawfordsville, 1870 to 1900

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Crawfordsville post office opens
  3. 1882Born hereChauncey Bishop is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archivePhotograph of a Sikh cyclist whose name is captioned as "Heara Singh", Crawfordsville, Or…
By decade

Crawfordsville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Photograph of a Sikh cyclist whose name is captioned as "Heara Singh", Crawfordsville, Oregon, ca.1900'sc. 1900Photograph of a Sikh cyclist whose name is captioned …
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
Crawfordsville Market2013Crawfordsville Market
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.

Photograph of a Sikh cyclist whose name is captioned as "Heara Singh", Crawfordsville, Oregon, ca.1900's
Retake this viewPhotograph of a Sikh cyclist whose name is captioned as "Heara Singh", Crawfordsville, Oregon, ca.1900's, c. 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Crawfordsville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Crawfordsville

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Crawfordsville Bridge
Crawfordsville Bridge
Structures

Architectural styles listings

Howe Truss1
Crawfordsville BridgeHowe Truss

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

Questions about Crawfordsville’s history

What year was Crawfordsville founded?

The Crawfordsville post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Crawfordsville?

One place: the Crawfordsville Bridge (listed 1979).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.