Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1852.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Danvers’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Danvers is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Danvers’ 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 Danvers’ 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 points). Two sources give 1836.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Danvers’ 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.
Danvers was laid out under the name of "Concord" on February 20, 1836, by Israel W. Hall (1799 - 1865) and Matthew Robb (1801 – 1870). The name Concord was given to the town by Hall after Concord, Massachusetts. A rival town, Wilkesborough, just over a mile to the east, was laid out by James O. Barnard on June 3 of the same year. Wilkesborough had 96 lots and a public square. Both towns were part of the great town founding surge in Illinois that peaked in 1836. Between 1835 and 1837 eight new towns and many additions were laid out in McLean County. At this time it was fairly common for two towns to be founded close to each other as they competed for the same locational advantage. In this case both towns were on the stage route from Bloomington to Peoria and Pekin. For several years it was unclear which town would be successful. Wilkesborough did quite well and by 1859 had 15 heads of fa…
Passages that mention Danvers, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McLean County, Illinois1924 · page 384Read the page →
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Danvers township was the site of the once planned town of Wilkesborough, in section 24. It was laid out in 1837, and in 1859 had some fifteen families residing within its boundaries. At one time the postoffice was at Wilkesborough, and the people of Concord (Danvers) had to go there to get their mail. The town, however, died out and Danvers survived.
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Centennial celebration, at Danvers, Mass., June 16, 18521852 · page 181Read the page →
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Gentlemen :—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th of this month, inviting me, in behalf of the town of Danvers, to be present at a proposed centennial celebration of the separation of Danvers from Salem, on the 16th of June next. Iam always gratified, gentlemen, with these public remembrances of distinguished epochs of the past. Our New England history is full of instruction, our fathers having left us a rich inheritance of evangelical religion, sound morals, and political freedom. We honor ourselves,
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Centennial celebration, at Danvers, Mass., June 16, 18521852 · page 191Read the page →
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At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the Town of Danvers, qualified to vote in town affairs, holden at Union Hall, in the South Parish in said town, on Monday, the twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
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The History of McLean County, Illinois1879 · page 576Read the page →
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exact date we could not ascertain. All this time the people of Concord, now Danvers, were obliged to go to Wilkesborough for their mail. When the office was discontinued at Wilkesborough, it was moved to Concord, and called Stout's G-rove Post Office, and so remained till 1861, when the names of the post office and village were changed to Danvers. The village of Wilkesborough is not now recognized. There is nothing to indicate to the stranger. the previous existence of any such place. Its course has long since been run. It lives only in records and the memories of those who still cherish fond recollections of the " good old times in McLean County."
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
Danvers, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. 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.
Between 356 and 1,183 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Danvers’ Wikipedia page.
Questions about Danvers’ history
What year was Danvers founded?
In 1836, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Danvers’ post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1870 counted 356 people here.
How does Danvers rank for history?
Danvers is more historic than 75% 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 Danvers?
39% of Danvers’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1956.
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, 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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