Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1923 on, and the census since 1880.
The Edinburg post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Blueville (1855), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edinburg is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Edinburg’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: 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 Edinburg’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereGeorge Lloyd is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveEHS Band 1960Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Edinburg yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Edinburg is a village in Christian County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,085 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1837. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,078 in 2010, 1,085 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Edinburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
lie went to the hospital at New Orleans, where he remained about twe weeks.and then returned to Baton Rouge, Mississippi, and from there iMUie. He was in the service just two years In 1870, he laid out the town of Edinburg, the railroad being built through his farm ; and since the w'ar he has devoted his time to farming, trading and handling horses, in which time he has fitted and started somi' very speedy ones. He now has some very promising colts, that he is just putting on the track. He has a half-mile track on
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
14th of December, 1835. He conveyed it to Dr. Richard F. Barrett, John Taylor, 51. Eastham and Robert Allen, who had it surveyed and platted. At the time of the location of the county-seat, the towns of Edinburg and Allenton were rivals for that honor. Edinburg had then a population of several hundred inhabitants, and Allenton presented advantages of no mean pretensions. Both towns were backed by their respective citizens. Both were sufficiently near the geographical centre, so that opposition in that
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 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edinburg. 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 Edinburg.
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 Edinburg’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 551 and 1,231 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edinburg’s Wikipedia page.
Edinburg had its own post office from 1837 to 1837. Another post office, Blueville, 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).
The Edinburg post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Edinburg is more historic than 66% 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.
24% of Edinburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1958.
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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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