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AHistory
History · Edwardsville

Edwardsville dates to 1818, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #73 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

8 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 415 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1850.

1818founded
8on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
20famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Edwardsville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Edwardsville began

When was Edwardsville founded?

1818

Edwardsville dates its founding to 1818 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 677 in 18502020 census: 26,808208 years

How historic is Edwardsville?

A

More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1822.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Edwardsville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edwardsville is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #73 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Edwardsville’s overall grade.
Founding era1818, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194015.7% of homes (±3.0) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register8 listings, 420 historic buildings, 159 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 90%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 91%

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 Edwardsville’s 159 sits above most of its state (96% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 420 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.0 points). Two sources give 1818.

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 →

What stands out about Edwardsville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe LeClaire Historic District takes in 362 historic buildings.Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1930, drew every building in Edwardsville.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1822–1933.Landmarks on the Register8 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

8 listings protect 420 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
8
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
420
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
LeClaire Historic District
LeClaire Historic DistrictBerlemann HouseBenjamin Stephenson HouseEdwardsville Chapter HouseJohn Weir HouseSt. Louis Street Historic DistrictNarodni Sin
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Prairie School1
Italianate and Classical Revival1
Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century American Movements1
LeClaire Historic DistrictDistrict
Berlemann HouseBuilding
Benjamin Stephenson HouseBuilding
Edwardsville Chapter HousePrairie School
John Weir HouseBuilding
St. Louis Street Historic DistrictItalianate and Classical Revival
Narodni SinLate 19th Century and Early 20th Century American Movements
All 8 listings
AT&T Booster StationBuilding · listed 2026

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Every building

Edwardsville, building by building, 1886–1930

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Edwardsville fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 11886Sheet 1 of 3
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Edwardsville, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1820s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1820s4 items
Edwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 1421822Edwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 142DocumentEdwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 1421822Edwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 142DocumentEdwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 1421822Edwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 142DocumentEdwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 1421822Edwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 142Document
1910s–1930s8 items
Ralph Griffin House1915Ralph Griffin HouseHABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 0 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 0 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 0 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 0 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 1 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 1 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 1 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 1 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 2 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 2 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 2 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 2 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 3 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road1933HABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 3 of 3) - Galus Paddock F…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
The story

How Edwardsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Edwardsville.

Read it all →

Edwardsville was incorporated in 1818. The first European-American settler was Thomas Kirkpatrick, who came in 1805, laid out a community, and served as the Justice of the Peace. He named the community after his friend Ninian Edwards, then territorial governor of Illinois. (Illinois did not become a state until 1818.) The Edwards Trace, a key trail in the settlement of Central Illinois, used Edwardsville as a northward launching point.

In 1868 The Bank of Edwardsville was founded. It was purchased by Champaign, Illinois-based Busey Bank in 2019.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Edwardsville, 1882–1912

Passages that mention Edwardsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.

agreement had been entered into with the Wabash railroad, whereby they leased to the Illinois Terminal for a term of years that portion of their track from Edwardsville Crossing to Edwardsville. A connection was then constructed from the eastern city limits to Edwardsville Crossing, and the road wa…
Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People1912 · page 97Read the page →
Read the text

agreement had been entered into with the Wabash railroad, whereby they leased to the Illinois Terminal for a term of years that portion of their track from Edwardsville Crossing to Edwardsville. A connection was then constructed from the eastern city limits to Edwardsville Crossing, and the road was put in operation from Henry street in the city

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
We the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Edwardsville, hereby engage to furnish the amount of cash or other articles which may be necsssary iu building a court-house on the public square in the town of Edwardsville for the county of Madison which we hereby engage to build and make a donation …
History of Madison County, Illinois ... With biographical sketches ..1882 · page 135Read the page →
Read the text

We the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Edwardsville, hereby engage to furnish the amount of cash or other articles which may be necsssary iu building a court-house on the public square in the town of Edwardsville for the county of Madison which we hereby engage to build and make a donation of to the county of Madison aforesaid ; hereby engaging to pay and furnish the amount of cash or other articles by us severally subscribed.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ter town through the comparatively old and thick American settlements to Madison, then a frontier county which had but recently been laid out, and its seat of justice (Edwardsville) located on Thomas Kirkpatrick's farm. There was but one small log cabin on the site of the old town of Edwardsville. …
Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People1912 · page 56Read the page →
Read the text

ter town through the comparatively old and thick American settlements to Madison, then a frontier county which had but recently been laid out, and its seat of justice (Edwardsville) located on Thomas Kirkpatrick's farm. There was but one small log cabin on the site of the old town of Edwardsville. and that having no person in it when I passed, and seeing no

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
zens of tliii county we have procured for publication, copies of the following papers: s " Edwardsville, 5th of June, 1820. "Gentlemen, — Herewith are submitted propositions for the ert ction and completion of a Court-house and Gaol for the county of Madison, as a donation including fifty lots in t…
History of Madison County, Illinois ... With biographical sketches ..1882 · page 134Read the page →
Read the text

zens of tliii county we have procured for publication, copies of the following papers: s " Edwardsville, 5th of June, 1820. "Gentlemen, — Herewith are submitted propositions for the ert ction and completion of a Court-house and Gaol for the county of Madison, as a donation including fifty lots in the town of Edwardsville. We beg leave to refer you to

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.

Timeline

Edwardsville, 1818 to 2000

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1818
    FoundingEdwardsville is established
  3. 1822In the archiveEdwardsville Spectator, vol. 3, no. 142
  4. 1822Post officeThe Edwardsville post office opens
  5. 1863Born hereCharles S. Deneen is born here
  6. 1896Born hereThomas M. Eaton is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1915In the archiveRalph Griffin House
  9. 1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1933In the archiveHABS ILL,60- ,1A- (sheet 0 of 3) - Galus Paddock Farm, Springfield Road
  11. 1979Born hereBarb Honchak is born here
  12. 21st century
  13. 2000Born hereKate Martin is born here
On the map

Edwardsville on the map, 1927 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edwardsville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Edwardsville on the 1927 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1932 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1950 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1968 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1974 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1991 USGS map1927Edwardsville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Edwardsville.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Ralph Griffin House
Retake this viewRalph Griffin House, 1915

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Edwardsville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Edwardsville, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,000185019001950200026,808

Grew from 677 people in 1850 to 26,808 in 2020, more than tenfold.

17 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edwardsville’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

20 famous people were born in Edwardsville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Charles S. DeneenAmerican politician · b. 1863
B
Barb HonchakAmerican martial artist · b. 1979
Kate MartinAmerican basketball player · b. 2000
Thomas M. EatonAmerican politician · b. 1896
Wilbur BurroughsAmerican discus thrower and shot putter · b. 1884
B
Billie PooleAmerican jazz singer · b. 1929
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Edwardsville’s post office has been open since 1822.

Gone or out of use
Bohm SchoolschoolCenter Grove SchoolschoolGoshen SchoolschoolPin Oak Schoolschool
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Edwardsville
BallardFrickensteinGrover GiffordLuskSaint Boniface CatholicSaint Marys CatholicValley ViewWolf FamilyWoodlawn

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Edwardsville’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRalph Griffin House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Glen Carbon2 historic placesC+Pontoon BeachIts storyD−South RoxanaIts storyDEdwardsville Township9 historic placesAPin Oak TownshipIts storyC−MitchellIts storyD

Questions about Edwardsville’s history

What year was Edwardsville founded?

In 1818, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Edwardsville’s post office opened in 1822, and the census of 1850 counted 677 people here.

How does Edwardsville rank for history?

Edwardsville is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #73 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.

What is on the National Register in Edwardsville?

8 listings: 6 buildings and 2 historic districts, the LeClaire Historic District and the St. Louis Street Historic District, with 415 contributing buildings. 420 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Edwardsville?

16% of Edwardsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1986.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.