St. Paul, IN

St. Paul is a small town split by the Decatur–Shelby county line in eastern Indiana. The 2020 census counted 960 residents. The railroad reached the site in 1853, and pioneer Jonathan Paul laid out the community around the tracks. Older residents also called it Paultown. The railroad made St. Paul a midpoint between Greensburg and Shelbyville, while the Flat Rock River and nearby limestone quarries supplied other reasons for the town to matter. The original settlement grew across county boundaries, so the line on the map is part of the town's story, not a clean edge.

ATTRPublic domain

St. Paul's historic center once held mills, churches, shops, a post office, and a school; early businesses included grist, saw, and woolen mills. Today almost all of the town lies in Decatur County Community Schools, with small sections in Shelby Eastern Schools. The railroad corridor and the county line still organize the map, while the town's name remembers Jonathan Paul, the settler whose land and mill helped give the place its start.