Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #126 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
The Carlinville post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1865.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carlinville is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #126 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Carlinville’s 1.8 sits above most of its state (66% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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.
Born hereAlfred R. Page is born here
Born hereMary Hunter Austin is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Illinois - Macoupin County - Carlinville - ED 59-…
Born herePeter F. Mack, Jr. is born here
In the archiveCarlinville IL Presby PHS943
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMark Juergensmeyer is born here
In the archiveMacoupin County CourthouseEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carlinville. 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 Carlinville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Carlinville.
Carlinville is named for Thomas Carlin, seventh governor of Illinois, who as a member of the state legislature was instrumental in creating Macoupin County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Carlinville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Carlinville is now (1911), a beautiful little city 6f 3,616 population, with most of its business houses on four streets which face the square. The place is devoid of manufactories, although at one time it had nourishing machine shops, a brewery, established in 1859 by Steel & Lebherz, which continued in operation many years. This and the machine shops have long been abandoned. There were mills in Carlinville, the output of which was many hundred barrels of flour per day. These have gone out of existence, most of them having been destroyed by fire, until today not one remains.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
To the surveyor, Joseph Borough, for surveying and platting fifty lots in the town of Carlinville, the sum of seventeen dollars and fifty cents was allowed "by the court, and the same ordered to be paid. THE FIRST GRAND JURORS.
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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. 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 Carlinville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 3,117 and 5,917 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Carlinville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Carlinville’s post office has been open since 1830.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Carlinville post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1865.
Carlinville is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #126 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.
One place: the Carlinville Historic District (listed 1976).
29% of Carlinville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1880
1928
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2023
2008