Founding year: the first Cazenovia Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Cazenovia Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cazenovia Township is more historic than 55% 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 Cazenovia Township’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 Cazenovia Township’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 (±6.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Cazenovia Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cazenovia Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1893Metamora sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cazenovia Township.
The story so far
Cazenovia Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cazenovia Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cazenovia is an unincorporated community in Cazenovia Township, Woodford County, Illinois, United States. The community is located along Illinois Route 89 4.4 miles (7.1 km) north-northeast of Metamora.
Its first post office opened in 1871. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,768 to 1,676 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Cazenovia Township in 1878
Passages that mention Cazenovia Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Past and present of Woodford County, Illinois1878 · page 351Read the page →
Read the text
nently settled a little south of the present village of Washburn, and not far from Low Point. Judge Wm. E. Buckingham, now living within half a mile of the village of Washburn, was originally from the Pennsylvania settlement, but had resided in Ohio several years previous to his settlement in Cazenovia Township. This old family trace their lineage back in an unbroken line to Thomas Buckingham, the Puritan preacher, who came to America in the Mayflower, and through him direct to the Dukes of Buckingham. We make the following extract from their genealogical record published some years ago, and a copy of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Past and present of Woodford County, Illinois1878 · page 358Read the page →
Read the text
considerable brick was manufactured. A little store and grocery was once kept in their midst, and was quite a place of resort on Saturday evenings, and, perhaps, Sundays. It was in this settlement that the first frame school house was built in Cazenovia Township ; and in the grand march of civilization and
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.
Timeline
Cazenovia Township, 1849 to 1893
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Cazenovia Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cazenovia Township rank for history?
Cazenovia Township is more historic than 55% 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 Cazenovia Township?
43% of Cazenovia Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1951.
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, 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.
