Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1870.
Centralia Township dates its founding to 1853 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 16,343 in 1940; 12,182 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Centralia Township’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Centralia 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 Centralia Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Centralia Township.
Centralia is named for the Illinois Central Railroad, built in 1853. The city was founded where the two original branches of the railroad converged. Centralia was first chartered as a city in 1859. Now Canadian National owns the line.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCentralia, Marion Co., Illinois 1867
In the archiveChildren at Central School
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFirst- and second-grade clases at the Lincoln School, Centralia, Illinois, 1916-1917 (scl…3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. 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 Centralia 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.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1853, according to Wikidata. Centralia Township’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1870 counted 3,190 people here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (14), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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