Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #413 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Du Page Township was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1892 on and old-book passages.
The Du Page Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Du Page Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #413 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 Du Page Township’s 0.1 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Du Page Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Du Page 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 Du Page Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Du Page Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1833. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 87,793 in 2010, 87,348 in 2020.
Passages that mention Du Page Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
When the first school districts were laid ofi". Will then being a part of Cook County, this original schoolhouse of Du Page Township was in School District No. 1 of Cook County, and thus entered in the "book of the law and testimony." Du Page has always maintained its early reputation for schools, and spared neither pains nor expense to disseminate knowledge among its inhabit- * John Wentworth.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Du Page Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Du Page Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #413 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.
1% of Du Page Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
