Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #238 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
19 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 22 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1850.
Bloomington City Township dates its founding to 1857 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bloomington City Township is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #238 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Bloomington City Township’s 50.6 sits above most of its state (91% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 399 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
7 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1865North View in
1889PostcardBloomingtonILEaSideSq1910Postcard
1890Adlai Stevenson's residence
1890View in Franklin Park
1900Track to be straightened in the Bloomington yards
1900Track to be straightened in the Bloomington yards![C. & A. [Chicago and Alton Railroad] shops at Bloomington, Ill](https://images.townratings.com/story/19752/28807ad6d995b3c2ab91-s.jpg)
1900C. & A. [Chicago and Alton Railroad] shops at Bloomin…
1908Billy Sunday, Portrait - DPLA - a2be2205d28d727980c47…Postcard
1908Billy Sunday, Portrait - DPLA - a2be2205d28d727980c47…Postcard
1908Billy Sunday, Portrait - DPLA - d476f135e07f1f84ccdeb…Postcard
1908Billy Sunday, Portrait - DPLA - d476f135e07f1f84ccdeb…Postcard
1910Illinois Retail Hardware Assn., Bloomington, Ill., Fe…
1910Illinois Retail Hardware Assn
1910Picnic at Miller Park
1914Panoram #1 of Bloomington, Ill
1914Standard atlas of McLean County, Illinois, including …Map
1914Panoram #1 of Bloomington, Ill
1917Klemm, Overalls, Shirts, Pants, automobile, changing …Postcard
1917Butting, tipping and shelling seed corn Funk Bros. Se…Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bloomington City Township.
The Bloomington area was at the edge of a large grove occupied by the Kickapoo before the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the early 1820s. Springing from the settlement of Keg Grove, later called Blooming Grove, Bloomington was named as county seat on December 25, 1830, when McLean County was created.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereElbert Green Hubbard is born hereIn the archiveNorth View inBorn hereClinton Davisson is born hereIn the archivePostcardBloomingtonILEaSideSq1910In the archiveAdlai Stevenson's residenceIn the archiveTrack to be straightened in the Bloomington yardsIn the archiveIllinois Retail Hardware Assn., Bloomington, Ill., Feb. 10, '10Born hereGeorge Lincoln Rockwell is born here
In the archiveChicago and Alton Railroad Shops
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bloomington City 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 Bloomington City Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bloomington City Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,594 people in 1850 to 78,680 in 2020, more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bloomington City Township’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1857, according to Wikidata. Bloomington City Township’s post office opened in 1829, and the census of 1850 counted 1,594 people here.
Bloomington City Township is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #238 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.
15% of Bloomington City Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 Wikimedia Commons (13), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1932
1932
