Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns · #583 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1920.
Broadview dates its founding to 1914 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1920.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Broadview is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #583 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Broadview’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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Broadview’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1930 and 1940, then grew 5-fold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Broadview’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Broadview. 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 Broadview.
From Wikipedia’s history of Broadview.
The area that was to become Broadview was originally a settlement of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Native American tribes. In 1835, Frederick Bronson purchased 80 acres and established the first homestead.
Broadview was incorporated as a village on January 22, 1914. The name was chosen by the daughter of the first town president, Jacob Mueller.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveNYC 5660 on the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad in Broadview, Illinois, August 1972One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Broadview’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Broadview itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1914, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1920 counted 430 people here.
Broadview is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #583 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.
19% of Broadview’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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