Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #120 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 430 buildings between them. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
Geneva dates its founding to 1835 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Geneva is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #120 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Geneva’s 205 sits above most of its state (96% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 435 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
6 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1925Fabyan-postcard-medPostcard
1933HABS ILL,45-GEVA.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Bristol Farmho…
1933HABS ILL,45-GEVA.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Bristol Farmho…
1933HABS ILL,45-GEVA.V,1- (sheet 1 of 3) - Bristol Farmho…
1933HABS ILL,45-GEVA.V,1- (sheet 1 of 3) - Bristol Farmho…
1933HABS ILL,45-GEVA.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Bristol Farmho…From Wikipedia’s history of Geneva.
Two Native American trails crossed through Geneva. The Potawatomi people lived in the Geneva area, with their main chief, Waubonsee, leading a group that gathered just north of Aurora.
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.
Born hereEdmund Beecher Wilson is born here
In the archiveBird's eye view of Geneva, Kane County, Illinois 1869
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Illinois - Kane County - Geneva - ED 45-93, ED 45…
In the archiveFox River, below Geneva, Ill
In the archiveHenry Bond Faro 1913BuiltRiverbank Laboratories is built
Born hereGower Champion is born hereIn the archiveFabyan-postcard-med
Born hereJoan Taylor is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveHABS ILL,45-GEVA.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Bristol Farmhouse, River Road
Born hereBob Woodward is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Geneva. 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 Geneva.
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 Geneva’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 997 and 21,495 people in every census since 1860.
16 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Geneva’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Geneva’s post office has been open since 1850.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1835, according to Wikidata. Geneva’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1860 counted 997 people here.
Geneva is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #120 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.
8 listings: 4 buildings, 3 historic districts, the Central Geneva Historic District, the North Geneva Historic District and the Riverbank Laboratories, with 430 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 435 historic buildings in all.
10% of Geneva’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 (14), the Library of Congress (4), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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