Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1932 on and old-book passages.
The Alden Township post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Alden (1844), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alden Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Alden Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alden Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Alden Township.
Alden was laid out in 1844, and named after Alden, New York, the native home of a large share of the first settlers. A post office called Alden had been in operation since 1844. However, as of year 2023 a post office no longer is present in Alden.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Alden Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village has never grown to any considerable extent, and now there are a few stores and small shops for the accommodation of 1 lasurrounding rich farming community. Alden Township has many beautiful and valuable farms and fine herds of excellent milch cows, the milk from which is sold at the station of Alden where a large collecting station is conducted by one of the great milk companies mentioned in the chapter (in dairying. In 1877 Alden had a cheese factory, built in 1870, and used the milk of 500 cows, but it has been long discontinued.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ALDEN As late as 1885 the butter and cheese industry was active at Alden, and there were four factories for the production of butter and cheese in Alden Township. The first one was built at Alden Station in 1869, and during its most flourishing period it used as much as 15,000 pounds of milk daily. The second of these factories was built in 1877, and was subsequently consolidated with the first. In 1879 F. Ferris & Company built a factory several miles beyond the town limits, and it had a daily
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alden Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Alden Township.
Nobody well known was born in Alden Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Alden, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Alden Township post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Alden Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
15% of Alden Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1974.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
