Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 18% of U.S. towns · #649 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Bloomington Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 23 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1850.
Bloomington Township dates its founding to 1857 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 18% 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 Township is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #649 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 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: 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.
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/19751/28807ad6d995b3c2ab91-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…Another post office, Hendrix, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Bloomington 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.
Passages that mention Bloomington Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Bloomington Township. — The settlement of Bloomington township grew out of the original settlement of the county, at Blooming Grove. As stated elsewhere, the grove was first called Keg Grove, owing to the tradition that Kickapoos had found a keg of rum there soon after the white men arrived. Before the whites' came here there had been an Indian village at the timber farther east, known to early settlers as Old Town timber, after the old Indian town. The nearest white settlements prior to that of Blooming Grove were at Peoria, 40 miles distant, and at
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1849 Mr. Rice came to this country and first settled in LaSalle County, and in '1872 located on a farm in Bloomington Township, McLean County, where they lived for many years. Mr. Rice became a successful farmer and was a bee-keeper also. He served throughout the Civil War in Company I, 104th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was highway commissioner of Bloomington Township for a number of years, and died Feb. 28, 1910. His wife lives in Bloomington with her daughter, Mrs.
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.
In the archiveNorth View inIn 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, '10
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 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 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 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 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 Township’s post office opened in 1876, and the census of 1850 counted 1,594 people here.
Bloomington Township is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #649 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.
3% of Bloomington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 (14), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (1), 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 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.
1932
1932
1933
