Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #281 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Columbia was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Its Register listing is the Gundlach-Grosse House. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1850.
The Columbia post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1859.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Columbia is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #281 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Columbia’s 1.8 sits above most of its state (66% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Columbia. 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 Columbia.
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 Survey
In the archiveDETAIL OF DOORWAY - Stone House
Born hereAedan Stanley is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Columbia.
Columbia was first incorporated in 1859 as a small farming settlement, but had been occupied by various Native American cultures for 12,000 years. The earliest group encountered by European settlers were members of what became the Illinois Confederation, though they had moved to the area from the Great Lakes region only a few centuries before.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Columbia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The portion of territory ceded by Maryland to the General Government, and incorporated with the District of Columbia, was set off between 1790 and 1800. The number of its inhabitants in the latter year should be properly taken into account, in stating the population of Maryland, when the second census was taken. But the figures could not be conveniently admitted into the tables. The number of whites, with whom were reckoned a few free colored persons, was- 8,144, and of slaves, 2,072. Adding these amounts to the figures in the lines referring to the census of 1800, it will be seen that but for this cession of terri-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At this point it will be interesting, also instructive, to pause for a moment to enquire into the manner of the naming of British Columbia. Heretofore the term Columbia, as far as the West was concerned, had only been applied to the Columbia River and sometimes to the Western Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was quite frequently termed the Columbia Department. It was proposed at first to name the country New Caledonia, by which appellation, indeed, it had been known for some time, but the Government of France objected to that name being given to the pro-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Maps of the District of Columbia and City of Washington and Plats of the Squares and Lots of the City of Washington. Printed in pursuance of a resolution of the Senate of the United States, 1852. Contains 3 large maps as follows: Map of the City of Washington in the District of Columbia, Established as the Permanent Seat of the Government of the United States of America, 1839; Reprint of map of the Territory of Columbia by Andrew Ellicott (1793) ?; Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the Dominion authorities. The delegates left Victoria for Ottawa on May 10th, 1870, and on July 7th the Terms were agreed upon, the Dominion accepting almost in their entirety British Columbia’s proposals. The most important clause in the treaty between Canada and British Columbia, known as the Terms of Union, provided for the construction of a railway to connect the seaboard of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada. That famous provision, the interpretation of which gave rise to so much ill-feeling and controversy in after years, reads:
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. 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 Columbia’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.
Grew from 378 people in 1850 to 10,999 in 2020, more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Columbia’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Columbia’s post office has been open since 1822.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.
The Columbia post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1859.
Columbia is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #281 of 768 in Illinois. 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.
One place: the Gundlach-Grosse House (listed 1978).
8% of Columbia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1991.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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