Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Thompson Mill Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1941 on.
The Dry Point Township post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Holliday (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Dry Point Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dry Point Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dry Point Township is located in Shelby County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,093 and it contained 463 housing units.
Its first post office opened in 1864. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,093 to 951 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings 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 Dry Point Township. 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 Dry Point Township.
The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Dry Point Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Holliday, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Dry Point Township post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Thompson Mill Covered Bridge (listed 1975).
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
