Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Alsip

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
CHistory
History · Alsip

1 of Alsip’s places is on the National Register

More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #532 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Burr Oak Cemetery Historic District. Most of Alsip was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1930.

1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Alsip’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Alsip’s history

How historic is Alsip?

C

More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Alsip’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alsip is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #532 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Alsip’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19402.8% of homes (±2.1) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 0.5 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 32%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 31%

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 Alsip’s 0.5 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: our sources. 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 Alsip’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18927 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1993. Watch Alsip change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Alsip’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTill boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Alsip on the map, 1892 to 1993

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

Alsip on the 1892 USGS mapAlsip on the 1900 USGS mapAlsip on the 1929 USGS mapAlsip on the 1953 USGS mapAlsip on the 1963 USGS mapAlsip on the 1973 USGS mapAlsip on the 1993 USGS map1892Calumet 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 Alsip.

The story so far

Alsip, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Alsip yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. It is a south suburb of the Chicago metropolitan area. Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885. The village began to grow after the Tri-State Tollway was built there in 1959.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 19,277 in 2010, 19,063 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Alsip, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s3 items
Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]1955Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]1955Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]1955Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]
1960s–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
Today6 recent
Tristatetollway oct09 22009Tristatetollway oct09 2Alsip IL 2009 reference map2009Alsip IL 2009 reference mapMapAlsipWaterTower2008AlsipWaterTowerAlsipVillageHall2008AlsipVillageHallAlsipPublicLibrary2008AlsipPublicLibraryUS-IL-Chicagoland-Alsip2005US-IL-Chicagoland-Alsip
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.

Till boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic]
Retake this viewTill boy's funeral, Burr Oaks Cemetary [sic], 1955

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Alsip

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
2026
Burr Oak Cemetery Historic District
Burr Oak Cemetery Historic District
Sites
All 1 listings
Burr Oak Cemetery Historic DistrictSite · listed 2026

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

People over time

Alsip, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00019401960198020002020Peak: 19,725

Between 327 and 19,725 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Alsip

Nobody well known was born in Alsip itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Gary SiniseAmerican actor · b. 1955
Jane LynchAmerican actress · b. 1960
K
Keke PalmerAmerican actress · b. 1993
Sean HayesAmerican actor · b. 1970
Nichelle NicholsAmerican actress · b. 1932
J
Jenny McCarthyAmerican actress, model, activist, television p… · b. 1972
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Hazel Green
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Alsip
Burr OakFirst Evangelical LutheranHazelgreenRestvale

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.

Blue Island1 historic placeA−Oak LawnIts storyC−CrestwoodIts storyDWorth Township1 historic placeC+Chicago407 historic placesA+

Questions about Alsip’s history

How does Alsip rank for history?

Alsip is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #532 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 Alsip?

One place: the Burr Oak Cemetery Historic District (listed 2026).

How old are the homes in Alsip?

3% of Alsip’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1975.

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 (9), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.