The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Downs was originally a small community known as "Delta", established by McLean County settlers in 1829. Previously, the area served as a trading post for the Kickapoo people. When the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway was built in 1869, several buildings were dismantled and reconstructed further south to put the town closer to the railroad. The town was then renamed "Priceville" in honor of John Price, a resident who owned the land near the tracks. In 1902, the town's name was changed to "Downs", after postal clerks commonly confused Priceville with the similarly named Illinois town of Princeville. Downs is named for Lawson Downs, one of the area's pioneer settlers.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Downs’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Downs’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Downs, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Downs is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Downs has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is US Army Aircraft C-53-DO-41-20124 in Bloomington, 6.4 miles away.
Downs and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.