Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 1880.
The Enfield Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Enfield Township is more historic than 46% 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 Enfield Township’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 Enfield Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Enfield Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Enfield is a village in White County, Illinois, United States. The population was 596 at the 2010 census, which rose to 794 in the 2020 Census.
Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 905 to 1,124 (+24%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Enfield Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
He was engineer in Niles’s foundry, Cincinnati, two years, and in 1839 came to Shawneetown and was engineer in John Crenshaw’s mill, on the Shawneetown & Equality Railroad, about six months; then went onto his farm in Enfield Township. In 1841 he returned to Cincinnati and engineered in the same foundry for three years, where he was crippled in the left hand, and returned to this county in 1844. In 1848 he went to Evansville, Ind., and built a large business block and engaged in the mercantile business a few years.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Enfield 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 Enfield Township.
Between 596 and 971 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Enfield Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Enfield Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Enfield Township is more historic than 46% 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.
26% of Enfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1966.
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, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
