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B−History
History · Algonquin

Algonquin’s post office opened in 1847, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #372 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Most of Algonquin was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Christian Geister House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1925 on, and the census since 1880.

1847first post office
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Algonquin’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Algonquin began

When was Algonquin founded?

1847

The Algonquin post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1890.

First census: 286 in 18802020 census: 29,700179 years

How historic is Algonquin?

B−

More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Algonquin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1890.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Algonquin’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Algonquin is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #372 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Algonquin’s overall grade.
Founding era1847, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19403.5% of homes (±1.2) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 0.3 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 54%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 52%

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 Algonquin’s 0.3 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1890.

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 →

What stands out about Algonquin’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1847: 179 years of Algonquin.On the map since 19256 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1992. Watch Algonquin change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Algonquin’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Algonquin’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewVelieHillClimbingContestStickney: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Algonquin, 1847 to 1998

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Algonquin post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archiveVelieHillClimbingContestStickney
  5. 1925On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1975Born hereTheresa Schwegel is born here
  7. 1989Born hereEvan Jager is born here
  8. 1998Born hereCameron Krutwig is born here
On the map

Algonquin on the map, 1925 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Algonquin. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Algonquin on the 1925 USGS mapAlgonquin on the 1940 USGS mapAlgonquin on the 1962 USGS mapAlgonquin on the 1972 USGS mapAlgonquin on the 1980 USGS mapAlgonquin on the 1992 USGS map1925Elgin sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Algonquin.

The story

How Algonquin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Algonquin.

Read it all →

Long before Europeans settled in Algonquin, the Potawatomi originally inhabited the land. Algonquin was the location of Indian burial mounds known in the 1800s as the Algonquin Mounds. By 1834 the first settler of Algonquin, Samuel Gillilan, came to the area from Virginia. Settlers Dr. Cornish, Dr. Plumleigh, Eli Henderson, Alex Dawson, and William Jackson arrived shortly thereafter. There was some dispute regarding the original name of Algonquin, and numerous other names were suggested including Denny's Ferry, Cornish Ferry, Cornishville, and Osceola. But Samuel Edwards suggested the name Algonquin and on December 23, 1847, the name Algonquin became official.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Algonquin, 1885–1922

Passages that mention Algonquin, cut from the printed page as they were published.

ALGONQUIN Benjamin Douglas and Colonel Hoffman built the first saw-mill in Algonquin Township in 1839, and it was located on Crystal Lake. In 1842 A. Dawson built a mill in the village of Algonquin. Another mill
History of McHenry County, Illinois1922 · page 231Read the page →
Read the text

ALGONQUIN Benjamin Douglas and Colonel Hoffman built the first saw-mill in Algonquin Township in 1839, and it was located on Crystal Lake. In 1842 A. Dawson built a mill in the village of Algonquin. Another mill

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first services held in Algonquin township was by the Episcopal people who assembled at the home of Samuel Gillilan, in 1836. St. John's Protestant Episcopal church was organized at Algonquin in 1844.
History of McHenry County, Illinois1922 · page 112Read the page →
Read the text

The first services held in Algonquin township was by the Episcopal people who assembled at the home of Samuel Gillilan, in 1836. St. John's Protestant Episcopal church was organized at Algonquin in 1844.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The land on which now stands the village of Algonquin was originally owned by Wm. Powell, who in 1840 built and ran the first hotel of the place. It was a log structure of moderate dimensions; this he ran about ten years when he added a frame part which, with the log building, served as a hotel til…
History of McHenry County, Illinois1885 · page 391Read the page →
Read the text

The land on which now stands the village of Algonquin was originally owned by Wm. Powell, who in 1840 built and ran the first hotel of the place. It was a log structure of moderate dimensions; this he ran about ten years when he added a frame part which, with the log building, served as a hotel till about the year 1858, when the entire structure was torn down and the present hotel building erected by James Dixon and John Griliilan,who owned it but a short time. Since then it has passed through many

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Reuben E. Sherwood was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., August, 1799, and died in McHenry County, 111., June 20, 1884 He left New York State in 1845, and settled in Algonquin Township, in this county. The village of Algonquin was then small, having but few houses. For some years he ran a ferry at …
History of McHenry County, Illinois1885 · page 334Read the page →
Read the text

Reuben E. Sherwood was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., August, 1799, and died in McHenry County, 111., June 20, 1884 He left New York State in 1845, and settled in Algonquin Township, in this county. The village of Algonquin was then small, having but few houses. For some years he ran a ferry at that place. Subsequently he bought a farm two miles west of the

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.

By decade

Algonquin, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
VelieHillClimbingContestStickney1910VelieHillClimbingContestStickney
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
Algonquin illustratedDate?Algonquin illustratedBook
Today11 recent
Prairie Trail south crossing under IL 31 - Algonquin, IL - July 20242024Prairie Trail south crossing under IL 31 - Algonquin,…Prairie Trail north crossing under IL 31 - Algonquin, IL - July 20242024Prairie Trail north crossing under IL 31 - Algonquin,…Prairie Trail and IL 31 at Main St - Algonquin, IL - July 20242024Prairie Trail and IL 31 at Main St - Algonquin, IL - …Longmeadow Parkway bridge south view (July 2024)2024Longmeadow Parkway bridge south view (July 2024)Longmeadow Parkway bridge north view (July 2024)2024Longmeadow Parkway bridge north view (July 2024)Port Edwards Seafood Restaurant Outdoor Seating2014Port Edwards Seafood Restaurant Outdoor SeatingBoating Fox River2012Boating Fox RiverAlgonquin Township, IL, USA2012Algonquin Township, IL, USAAlgonquin, IL - River Road2010Algonquin, IL - River RoadUS-IL-Chicagoland-Algonquin2006US-IL-Chicagoland-AlgonquinILMap-doton-Algonquin2005ILMap-doton-Algonquin
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

VelieHillClimbingContestStickney
Retake this viewVelieHillClimbingContestStickney, 1910

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Algonquin’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Algonquin

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2007
Christian Geister House
Christian Geister House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1
Queen Anne1
Christian Geister HouseLate Victorian

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Algonquin, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 30,046

Between 286 and 30,046 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Algonquin’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Algonquin

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
E
Evan JagerAmerican athletics competitor · b. 1989
Cameron KrutwigAmerican basketball player · b. 1998
Theresa SchwegelAmerican writer · b. 1975
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Algonquin’s post office has been open since 1847.

Gone or out of use
Lowe SchoolschoolMagic Carpet Airportairport

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Lake in the HillsIts storyDCaryIts storyC+Carpentersville1 historic placeCBarrington Hills4 historic placesA−Rutland Township1 historic placeCGrafton TownshipIts storyDDundee Township2 historic placesA−

Questions about Algonquin’s history

What year was Algonquin founded?

The Algonquin post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1890.

How does Algonquin rank for history?

Algonquin is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #372 of 768 in Illinois. 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.

What is on the National Register in Algonquin?

One place: the Christian Geister House (listed 2007).

How old are the homes in Algonquin?

4% of Algonquin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1994.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (13), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.