Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Bishop Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1870.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bishop Township is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Bishop Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bishop Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bishop Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bishop Township is one of fifteen townships in Effingham County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,702 and it contained 629 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,408 to 1,702 (+21%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Bishop Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In the spring of 1859, he bought lands in Bishop Township of the I. C. K. R. Co., which he improved and still lives upon. He establishedthe Veni Post Office during Lincoln's first administration, and has been the first and only Postmaster. Besides being Postmaster at Veni, he is Town Clerk and Township Treasurer; the latter office he has held for twenty years. Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
March, 1858, and located permanently and became Deputy Surveyor for Allen Howard until his term expired. He began farming in Bishop Township in the fall of 1858, and broke the first prairie farm in that township, continuing until the war broke out. He enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in October, 1861, and served until the spring
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bishop Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bishop Township.
Grew from 564 people in 1870 to 1,702 in 2020, 3 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bishop Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Bishop Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Bishop Township is more historic than 24% 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.
8% of Bishop Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1995.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.
