Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1880.
The Coleta post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Coleta’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Coleta yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Coleta is a village in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Coleta had a population of 167.
Its first post office opened in 1868. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 164 in 2010, 167 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Coleta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village of Coleta is laid out on the corners of sections 9, 10, 15 and 16, in township 22, range 6 east of the 4th principal meridian. The first building erected was the store of John Thompson Crum, on the corner of section 10.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The villase of Coleta is laid out on the corners of sections 9, 10, 15 and 16. in township 22, range 6 east of the 4th principal meridian. The first buildino' erected was the store of John Thompson Crum, on the corner of section 10.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The store of J. T. Crum was the first building erected in Coleta, afterwards purchased by Ephraim Brookfield, who for several years besides teaching carried on a business in general merchandise. He taught as early as 1858.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Coleta. 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 Coleta.
Between 154 and 219 people in every census since 1880.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Coleta’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Coleta itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Coleta had its own post office from 1868 to 1965.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Coleta post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 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 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.
