Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #219 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1934 on, and the census since 1910.
Dupo dates its founding to 1750 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1910.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dupo is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #219 of 768 in Illinois. Its age 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 Dupo’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: 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 →
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 Dupo’s history is told.
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 archiveSouthern Pacific SP 7759 (B36-7)From Wikipedia’s history of Dupo.
In the Mississippian period, Dupo was the site of one of several multi-mound communities in the floodplain near Cahokia. These mounds remained standing at least as recently as 1915.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dupo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1906 when the Missouri Pacific railroad company located its shops at a point seven miles south of East St. Louis in the American Bottom, it laid the foundation of a thriving town called Dupo. The name is probably an abridgement of the name Prairie Du Pont which was anciently given to a settlement a short distance north of where Dupo now stands.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Bedford, Indiana, after working at different occupations for a short time, he went into the shoe repair business in Burns City, Indiana. In 1910 he came to Dupo, lUinois, where he was employed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company as a motor car repair man until 1917, and from that year until 1920, as a switchman. Then he opened a shoe repair shop in Dupo, and has
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dupo. 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 Dupo.
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 Dupo’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 433 and 4,138 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dupo’s Wikipedia page.
Dupo’s post office has been open since 1906.
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.
In 1750, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Dupo’s post office opened in 1906, and the census of 1910 counted 433 people here.
Dupo is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #219 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.
22% of Dupo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (4), 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 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.
1989
1989
1989
