Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #127 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
Carmi dates its founding to 1816 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
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, Carmi is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #127 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 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 Carmi’s 10.3 sits above most of its state (83% 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’s history is told.
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 4Sanborn 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 hereJames R. Williams is born here
In the archiveMap of White County, Illinois
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveRatcliff Inn
Born hereJosh Elder is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Carmi.
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, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The township of Carmi, being almost wholly absorbed in the history of Carmi as a village, town and city, has but little left to be said here. Nearly all the earliest residents of this township have been so identified with the town of Carmi that their names ap¬ pear either under that head or in the more general chapters of White County’s history, as “Early Settlements ” of the county, “Legal,” “Political,” “Eminent Dead,” etc. Their names are too numerous to repeat in this place.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and May 1, 1829, the Legislature enacted “that Allen Rudolph, of White County, or his heirs, is hereby authorized to erect a toll bridge across the Little Wabash River, opposite the main street in the town of Carmi; and shall be authorized to place a toll gate at either end of said bridge, and receive the toll for passing the same, herein allowed, for the term of thirty years, upon his com¬ plying with the provision of this act. The said Allen Rudolph, or his heirs, shall commence the building of said bridge, within one
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carmi. 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.
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’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’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Carmi’s post office has been open since 1817.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1816, according to Wikidata. Carmi’s post office opened in 1817, and the census of 1880 counted 2,512 people here.
Carmi is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #127 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.
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Ratcliff Inn (listed 1973, the first).
18% of Carmi’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
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