Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #147 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 1880.
Carmi Township dates its founding to 1816 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carmi Township is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #147 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age 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 Carmi Township’s 8.1 sits above most of its state (81% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% 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 Carmi Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveMap of White County, Illinois
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveRatcliff InnFrom Wikipedia’s history of Carmi Township.
Carmi post office has been in operation since 1817. Since 1939 a WPA oil on canvas mural called Service to the Farmer by Davenport Griffen has been displayed in the post office. Carmi is a biblical name.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Carmi Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
and afterward the measles. Although desiring to remain in the company he was discharged. His health lias never been good, but he will not apply for a pension. In 1865 he bought a farm of 120 acres in Carmi Township; in 1869 he bought 120 acres in Herald’s Prairie; in 1875 bought fifty acres more, and in 1879, seventy more. He is now living on the Renshaw place, the oldest settled farm in the county. He owns now 240 acres, about 200 of it improved. There are two graves on his place, those of Eben
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2019White County Courthouse
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2014Carmi, Illinois
2013White County Courthouse in
2013Robinson-Stewart House
2013Robinson and Main Cross in
2013Ratcliff Inn at
2013National Bank of Carmi, radio headquarters
2013L. Haas Store
2013James Robert Williams House
2013Carmi Chapter House
2013Carmi Carnegie library
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBookEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carmi 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 Carmi 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 Carmi Township’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 2,512 and 6,152 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Carmi Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1816, according to Wikidata. Carmi Township’s post office opened in 1817, and the census of 1880 counted 2,512 people here.
Carmi Township is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #147 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 Carmi Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (22), Wikidata (5), 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.
