Founding year: the first Catlin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1866.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Catlin’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Catlin is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Catlin’s overall grade.
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 Catlin’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1866 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 →
What stands out about Catlin’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
1820—First permanent settlement of Vermilion County. James Butler first settler. His place was called Butler's Point.
1822—God's Acre Cemetery, the first cemetery in Vermilion County was established. First meeting of county commissioners held at Butler's home. First Circuit Court held at home of Asa Elliott, friend of James Butler.
1823—First mill built and used in Vermilion and Champaign Counties, called a "corncracker" by James Butler. Made of a large log and stones, all constructed on a hand-made forge. Its capacity, with a muscular man as motive power, was one bushel of cracked corn in an hour.
Passages that mention Catlin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1911 · page 417Read the page →
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The Wabash railroad runs across this township. It enters it in the northeast corner and runs in a southwesterly direction to the village of Catlin, thence directly west to the limit. The Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. R. R. makes the western border of the township almost the entire length. Beside these means of transportation, the line of the Interurban trolley, a part of the Illinois Traction system, keeps Catlin in touch with Danville by cars going every twenty minutes during the day. With the exception of the strip of timber which skirted the stream in the northern part, Catlin township is a fertile plain where fine farms
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1930 · page 775Read the page →
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He resigned from this position, however, after a short time and entered the general post office in Chicago as a clerk. He became a carrier out of Station C, Chicago, and resigned on May 1, 1923, and came to Catlin to work in the mines. On July 24, 1924, he was appointed postmaster of Catlin, and has continued in that office to the present time.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1930 · page 650Read the page →
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Catlin and Danville, he attended Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois, for two years. He became assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Catlin in 1905 and served in that capacity until 1917, at which time he was elected cashier. From that date until 1925 he was cashier and in the latter year was elected president of the institution.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1911 · page 416Read the page →
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Tilton sang a song the verse of which he composed. This mine, which was worked for a while, and was a pride to Catlin, would seem crude enough at this time in comparison with the modern coal mines of Vermilion County. It was in 1856 that Mr. Guy Merrill and Josiah Hunt laid out the village of Catlin. The plat was twelve blocks north and south of the station. At the same time Harvey Sandusky laid out and platted an addition lying south of and running from the railroad and west of the original towns as far east as that plat did.
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.
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.
The Catlin post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1866.
How does Catlin rank for history?
Catlin is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Catlin?
28% of Catlin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.9 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1964.
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), 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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