Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1860.
The Cuba post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cuba is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Cuba’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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cuba’s history is told.
Peaked at 2,019 in 1910; 1,184 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cuba’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cuba.
Cuba was founded in 1837 when the two rival towns of Centerville and Middleton merged. The new town was named after the island of Cuba. The name could be in reference to the town of Havana, roughly 15 miles to the southeast. A post office has been in operation at Cuba since 1837.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Cuba, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Cuba, and mustered out with regiment at Augusta, Georgia, May 2, 1899. Served with regiment at Cairo, Illinois, in railroad strike of 1894. Was in command of five companies of Fourth Illinois National Guard at railroad strike in Chicago for eleven days, 1894.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
spirit, occurred during our sty in Cuba, as reported by the Times of Cuba, a Havana daily: "Tuesday morning, while bathing near the railroad bridge east of Marianao, a member of the Fourth Virginia Regiment had a narrow escape from drowning, and was saved by one of his companions, William McClure, of Company B, of the Fourth Illinois. A good-sized party was in the water when one of them, whose name we were unable to learn, was seized
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.
Born hereHarry K. Newburn is born here
Born hereWilliam Harrison Nebergall is born here
In the archiveThe United Electric Coal Co's Cuba Mine, Cuba, Fulton County, Illinois. Distant view of c…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cuba. 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 Cuba.
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Cuba’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Cuba post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cuba is more historic than 73% 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.
34% of Cuba’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (2), 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.
1946