Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1860.
The Blandinsville post office opened in 1843, 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 Blandinsville’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,565 in 1870; 569 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blandinsville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Blandinsville.
The town is named for Joseph L. Blandin, owner of the first general store. In 1842, the town was platted on a tract known as Job's Settlement, named after early settlers William and Ira Job. A post office was established in 1843. The Frank Hicks House in Blandinsville was constructed by architect George Franklin Barber in 1895.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Blandinsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Job's Settlement. — About the same time that Riggs Pennington and William Carter were forming a settlement in the south part of the county, William Job and a few others moved to the north part near the present town of Blandinsville. To the older residents of the county the name of Job's Settlement is very familiar. Hugh Wilson and family started in 1826 from Schuyler county to go to some place on the Mississippi, near the Des Moines Rapids, and when they arrived near the prefent village of Webster, Han-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Job's Settlement. — About the same time that Rig-gs Peuninsftou and William Carter were forming a settlement in the south part of the county, AVilliam Job and a few others moved to the north part near the present town of Blandinsville. To the older residents of the county the name of Job's Settlement is very familiar. Hugh Wilson and family started in 1826 from Schuyler county to go to some place on the Mississippi, near the Des Moines Rapids, and when they arrived near the present village of Webster, Han-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On the twenty-eighth day of June, at a special session of the County Court, Charles R. Hume, of Blandinsville, presented a petition, signed by a large number of citizens, praying that the Court would amend or change its former order, made on the seventh day of the present month, so as to make the towns of Blandinsville and Bushnell points in the Wabash and Mississippi Railroads, instead ot Macomb. The prayer of the petitioners was refused. This led to the defeat of the proposed measures.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Blandinsville. 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 Blandinsville.
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Blandinsville’s post office has been open since 1843.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Blandinsville post office opened in 1843, 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 Wikipedia, 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.
