The Amboy post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1854. Two smaller post offices, Rocky Ford (1844) and Saint Patrick (1886), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 1,615 in 18602020 census: 2,278173 years
How historic is Amboy?
A−
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Amboy post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Amboy’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Amboy is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Amboy’s overall grade.
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 Amboy’s 4.2 sits above most of its state (74% 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 A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1854 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Amboy’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Amboy had its start in the 1850s when the Illinois Central Railroad was extended to that point. The community's name is a transfer from Amboy, New Jersey.
The chain of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. began in Amboy when Samuel Carson opened his first dry goods store there in 1854.
The Christian denomination Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had a general conference in Amboy on April 6, 1860, at which time Joseph Smith III reorganized the church founded by his father Joseph Smith Jr.
The first school in the village of Amboy was a select one for young scholars, taught by Miss Celia Winters, in the old Baptist church west of the railroad. Miss Vaughan was another who taught in the same place. The vestry of the present Baptist church was afterward occupied, and Miss Yaughan and Miss Merilla Warriner were the teachers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first school-house in Amboy township was built of logs in the year 1839, and situated on the Sublette road, just south of the railroad crossing. Lucy Ann Church was the first teacher. Men were employed in winter and women in summer. Leonard Pratt, John Carey, Ira Hale, David Hale and Charlotte Doan taught in this house. After the Wasson school-house, the second in the township, and a frame building, was erected in 1845, the former was moved farther south and put up near the Lewis homestead. Here Roena Badger and Roxy Wasson taught for
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Amboy is also the western terminal of the Xorthern Illinois Electric Railway Company whidi lias its road under construction from Amboy to DeKalb, and of which twehe miles, reaching through liCe ( V'uter and Ijradford to lu'ar the Reynolds township line, are completed and in operation. These three railways give Amboy excellent shipping facilities, l)ut the one thing that has duriiig the past few yeai-s tended to build iij) Amboy and its business interest has been the develoi)ment of the agi'icultural
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lee County, Illinois1914 · page 68Read the page →
Read the text
Amboy, The Town of was laid out March 27, 1854, by Hiram Ketchmn and George W. Gray, trustees of the owners of the land. Binghampton, The Town of, was laid out May 16, 1848, by Asa B. Searls and Warren Badger, proprietors.
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.
Timeline
Amboy, 1844 to 1951
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Amboy post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1854.
How does Amboy rank for history?
Amboy is more historic than 75% 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.
What is on the National Register in Amboy?
One place: the Amboy Illinois Central Depot (listed 1992).
How old are the homes in Amboy?
42% of Amboy’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (14), Wikidata (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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