Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #339 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1880.
Bunker Hill Township dates its founding to 1837 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bunker Hill Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #339 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Bunker Hill 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bunker Hill Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bunker Hill 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 Bunker Hill Township.
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 SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Bunker Hill Township.
The original inhabitants of the Bunker Hill area were the Peoria people, Kickapoo people, and Winnebago people. They were forcibly removed from the area by the United States government around 1830.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Between 947 and 1,801 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bunker Hill Township’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Woodburn, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1837, according to Wikidata. Bunker Hill Township’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1880 counted 1,441 people here.
Bunker Hill Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #339 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.
17% of Bunker Hill Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
Date?
2007
2007