Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #74 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Calumet Township is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #74 of 768 in Illinois. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Calumet Township’s 50.3 sits above most of its state (91% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 91 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Calumet Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Calumet 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 Calumet Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Calumet Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Calumet Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 18,609 and it contained 8,210 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 20,777 to 18,609 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Calumet Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the Calumet, about a mile east of Blue Island, a portion of which village is also situated in this township. In the annals of Blue Island Village, already fully written in the history of Calumet Township, is necessarily included much concerning the early settlers of the town of Worth, and to which the reader is therefore referred.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 18,609 and 22,374 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Calumet Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Calumet Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Calumet Township is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #74 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.
18% of Calumet Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
