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Melcher

Ghost town · Parke County, Indiana

Montezuma quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1955, 1:24,000)
Montezuma quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1955, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Melcher is a ghost town in Parke County, Indiana. It is one of 4 former communities in Parke County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 6th among the 33 Indiana counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Melcher as a historical populated place on the Montezuma topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 39.7928° N, 87.3372° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleMontezuma
Elevation534 ft
Nearest living townMontezuma, IN
Distance to it1.7 miles
GNIS feature ID452167
Coordinates39.79282, -87.33724

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Melcher is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Montezuma, IN (population 900), about 1.7 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 534 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Melcher?

Melcher is in Parke County, Indiana, at 39.7928, -87.3372.

How many ghost towns are in Parke County?

Parke County, Indiana has 4 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.