Hamlet is a town in Davis and Oregon Townships, Starke County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. 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, Illinois to Fort Wayne, Indiana, 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. 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 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 of 2010, there were 800 people, 299 households, and 225 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 332 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.6% White, 1.0% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino 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%