Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1859.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Chatsworth’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chatsworth 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 Chatsworth’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 Chatsworth’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1809.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Chatsworth’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Chatsworth was laid out by Zeno Secor (1809 – 1875) and Cornelia Gilman on June 8, 1859. Both founders were from New York. Secor was a member of the Board of Directors of the company that was building the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad. He was a noted civil engineer and marine engine designer, who was involved with a number of railroads. Secor was later president of the Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad. Secor is best known for building a number of ironclad warships for the Union Navy. Cornelia Gilman was perhaps the person of that name who was the wife of Samuel Gilman, another director of the firm, and the man who gave his name to the nearby town of Gilman. The town of Chatsworth is perhaps named for Chatsworth House, the home of the Duke of Devonshire. Trains were running along the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad before the town was platted. The railroad soon became the Toledo, Peoria and …
Passages that mention Chatsworth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Livingston County, Illinois1878 · page 454Read the page →
Read the text
There are no church buildings in the town, but religious meetings are held in the school houses and at the people's residences. Neither is there a store or post office in the township, but the village of Chatsworth being very near the line of Charlotte, it is almost as convenient to the people of the latter as to its own citizens, and hence most of the residents of this town go to Chatsworth to church, for their mail, and to do their •• store trailing." That is also their shipping point on the railroad, and at present they do most of their milling there, as there are no mills in the town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Livingston County, Illinois1878 · page 390Read the page →
Read the text
As already stated, Chatsworth, at the time of township organization, embraced the town of Forrest and the fractional town of German town. iVt the meeting of the Board of Supervisors in 1861, Forrest, on petition, was set ott", and became a separate and distinct township, and at the September meeting of Supervisors for 1867, Germantown petitioned for separation, and was set off at this meeting, since which time it has been a separate town. Since these divisions and separations, Chatsworth remains still a complete Congressional township of thirty-six sections.
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.
By decade
Chatsworth, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1809, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Chatsworth’s post office opened in 1859, and the census of 1860 counted 20 people here.
How does Chatsworth rank for history?
Chatsworth 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 Chatsworth?
26% of Chatsworth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1962.
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), the Library of Congress (10), 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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