Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #311 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Flagg Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1952 on.
The Flagg Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Kyte River (1848), Flag Station (1866) and Flag (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Flagg Township is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #311 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Flagg Township’s 34.6 sits above most of its state (90% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 46 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
Four other post offices 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Flagg Township’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Flagg Township.
Flagg took its name from its location in Flagg Township. The Flagg post office was discontinued in 1917.
In 1936, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad had a station in Flagg.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Flagg 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 Flagg Township.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Flagg Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Flagg Township is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #311 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.
10% of Flagg Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
2007
2007
