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History · Bay View Gardens

12% of Bay View Gardens’ homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1970.

0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Bay View Gardens’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Bay View Gardens are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18936 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1996. Watch Bay View Gardens change.Old housesHalf of Bay View Gardens’ homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bay View Gardens’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bay View Gardens’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Bay View Gardens on the map, 1893 to 1996

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

Bay View Gardens on the 1893 USGS mapBay View Gardens on the 1932 USGS mapBay View Gardens on the 1950 USGS mapBay View Gardens on the 1967 USGS mapBay View Gardens on the 1979 USGS mapBay View Gardens on the 1996 USGS map1893Dunlap 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 Bay View Gardens.

The story so far

Bay View Gardens, in brief

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

Bay View Gardens is a village in Woodford County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bay View Gardens had a population of 354. The village is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 378 to 354 (-6%).

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

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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People over time

Bay View Gardens, census by census

0100200300400500198020002020Peak: 472

Between 354 and 472 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bay View Gardens’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Bay View Gardens

Nobody well known was born in Bay View Gardens 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

Old corners and places now gone

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bay View Garden
Gone or out of use
Powley Gravel Pitmine

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.

Spring BayIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bay View Gardens’ history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From 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.