Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bartonville

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
B+History
History · Bartonville

Bartonville’s post office opened in 1881, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #224 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 36 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1910.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bartonville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bartonville began

When was Bartonville founded?

1881

The Bartonville post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,536 in 19102020 census: 5,945145 years

How historic is Bartonville?

B+

More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Bartonville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Bartonville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bartonville is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #224 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bartonville’s overall grade.
Founding era1881, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194020.0% of homes (±4.8) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 36 historic buildings, 61.6 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 75%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 71%

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 Bartonville’s 61.6 sits above most of its state (91% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 Bartonville’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Peoria State Hospital takes in 36 historic buildings.On the map since 19057 editions of the USGS map, 1905 to 1996. Watch Bartonville change.Old housesHalf of Bartonville’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bartonville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bartonville’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 viewIllinois - Peoria: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

1 listing protects 36 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
36
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Peoria State Hospital
Peoria State Hospital, built 1902
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Prairie1
Neo-Classical Revival1
Georgian Revival1
Peoria State HospitalPrairie · Built 1902

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

On the map

Bartonville on the map, 1905 to 1996

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

Bartonville on the 1905 USGS mapBartonville on the 1927 USGS mapBartonville on the 1949 USGS mapBartonville on the 1950 USGS mapBartonville on the 1967 USGS mapBartonville on the 1979 USGS mapBartonville on the 1996 USGS map1905Peoria 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 Bartonville.

The story so far

Bartonville, in brief

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

Bartonville is a village in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,945 at the 2020 census. Bartonville is a suburb of Peoria and is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 6,471 to 5,945 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Bartonville, 1881 to 1917

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Bartonville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Bartonville post office closes
  5. 1902BuiltPeoria State Hospital is built
  6. 1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1917In the archiveIllinois - Peoria
By decade

Bartonville, decade by decade

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

1910s1 item
Illinois - Peoria1917Illinois - Peoria
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
Today8 recent
LCHS-Limestone 20230930 00202023LCHS-Limestone 20230930 0020LCHS-Limestone 20230930 00082023LCHS-Limestone 20230930 0008LCHS-Limestone 20230930 00032023LCHS-Limestone 20230930 0003Clara Lauterbach Park Bartonville 20231115 00032023Clara Lauterbach Park Bartonville 20231115 0003Bartonville sign 20231022 01852023Bartonville sign 20231022 0185Peoria County, Illinois - DSCF2635-3242020Peoria County, Illinois - DSCF2635-324Peoria State Hospital2010Peoria State HospitalWill this election season never end?2006Will this election season never end?
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.

Illinois - Peoria
Retake this viewIllinois - Peoria, 1917

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Bartonville, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 7,253

Between 1,536 and 7,253 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Bartonville

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

See all →
Betty FriedanAmerican feminist writer and activist · b. 1921
David Ogden StiersAmerican actor · b. 1942
Richard PryorAmerican comedian and actor · b. 1940
Dan SimmonsAmerican novelist · b. 1948
William Lane CraigAmerican Christian apologist and theologian · b. 1949
Dan FogelbergAmerican singer · b. 1951
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Bartonville had its own post office from 1881 to 1901.

Bartonville
1881–1901
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Peoria State Hospitalhospital
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bartonville
Saint Johns LutheranTrial

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

Questions about Bartonville’s history

What year was Bartonville founded?

The Bartonville post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Bartonville rank for history?

Bartonville is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #224 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 Bartonville?

One place: the Peoria State Hospital (listed 1982).

How old are the homes in Bartonville?

20% of Bartonville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1957.

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), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.