Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Blairsville post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Blairsville’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Blairsville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Blairsville is a census designated place in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The community is located along County Route 9 1.8 miles (2.9 km) southeast of Hurst and 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Cambria.
Its first post office opened in 1856.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Blairsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
George Aiken went into business at Blairsville. In 1856 Oliver Herring had a store in Herrin’s Prairie, ani two years later, D. R. tdarrison commenced in the same house, and is now one of the most wealthy and respectable citizens of the county. In 1857 Erwin and Furlong commenced business in Crab Orchard. The first store was put up in Marion by Joshua Mulkey in 1840, the next by Robert Hooper.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Blairsville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Blairsville had its own post office from 1856 to 1936.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Blairsville post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
