Hamlet is a town in Davis and

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Townships, Starke County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The population was 800 as of the 2010 census.

History

Hamlet was named after John Hamlet, who established the town in 1863. Two railroad lines once existed in Hamlet, one being a division of the former mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), running from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

to Fort Wayne,

, with the other line being the New York Central's (NYC) Kankakee Belt, running from Elkhart, Indiana to Kankakee, Illinois. In 1968, these two railroads merged to become the

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

. In 1976, Penn Central, along with several other languishing eastern railroads, were in bankruptcy, and was part of the Federal Government's takeover, creating Conrail. Both rail lines continued to see heavy use until the late 1970s under Conrail. By the early 1980s, the Kankakee Belt had been abandoned and removed, and the former PRR mainline's traffic had dropped dramatically, due to redundant east/west Conrail lines. Today, what remains of the former PRR mainline is operated by the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad (CF&E), which services Hamlet's large CO-OP grain elevator during the fall harvest rush. Hamlet was requested a Dollar General in 2020 and construction was completed in 2021. The Hamlet post office is in operation since 1864.

Geography

The Town of Hamlet was originally on both sides of US 30. In 1926 US 30 was realigned with the Indiana Realignment.

U.S. Route 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

bypasses Hamlet, about a half mile to the north. It is about east of highway U.S. 35. According to the 2010 census, Hamlet has a total area of , of which (or 98.98%) is land and (or 1.02%) is water.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 800 people, 299 households, and 225 families living in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was . There were 332 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 1.0% Native American, 0.1%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.6% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 1.6% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 2.6% of the population. There were 299 households, of which 37.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 18.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 24.7% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.01. The median age in the town was 35 years. 27.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.1% were from 25 to 44; 23.6% were from 45 to 64; and 12.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 820 people, 307 households, and 225 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 336 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.05%

, 0.12%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.37% Native American, 0.49%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.24% from

, and 0.73% from two or more races.

of any race were 1.34% of the population. There were 307 households, out of which 40.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.08. In the town, the population was spread out, with 30.9% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $30,750, and the median income for a family was $36,389. Males had a median income of $28,036 versus $20,921 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $12,811. About 15.4% of families and 17.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 23.1% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Hamlet has a public library, a branch of the Starke County Public Library System.

Notes

{{authority control Towns in Starke County, Indiana Towns in Indiana Northwest Indiana