Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #717 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Crest Hill was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1960.
Crest Hill first appears in the census in 1960.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crest Hill is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #717 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Crest Hill’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.
Founding year: the first census (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crest Hill’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Crest Hill. 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 Crest Hill.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Crest Hill.
The neighborhood of Stern Park Gardens, later incorporated into Crest Hill, renamed itself Lidice in 1942, following the Lidice massacre. Former presidential candidate Wendell Willkie and Czechoslovak president-in-exile Edvard Beneš spoke at the dedication, commemorating the tragedy.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveIllinois - Joliet
Born hereRon Coomer is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2025Photo of Eastbound Division Street Depicting Heavy Co…
2025Image of a Crest Hill Police Car Near a Gas Station -…
2025Image of a Crest Hill Police Car - December 2025
2024Menards (Crest Hill, Illinois) 1
2024Food 4 Less (Crest Hill, Illinois) 1
2010City of Crest Hill - Fall 2010
2009Crest Hill City Hall 2009No 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 Crest Hill’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 5,887 and 20,837 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Crest Hill’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Crest Hill post office opened in 1960, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Crest Hill is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #717 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.
7% of Crest Hill’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (10), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1932
1936