Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1940.
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 East Gillespie’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of East Gillespie yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
East Gillespie is a village in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 269.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 270 in 2010, 269 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 East Gillespie. 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 East Gillespie.
Between 187 and 278 people in every census since 1940.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on East Gillespie’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in East Gillespie itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
