Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1831.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Georgetown’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Georgetown is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #213 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Georgetown’s overall grade.
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 Georgetown’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.
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 (±8.6 points). Two sources give 1826.
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 Georgetown’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Georgetown was established in 1826 and was platted by James Haworth with the length of a grapevine, although the first home was established in 1820 by Henry Johnson. The town may have been named after George Beckwith, since Danville had been named after Dan Beckwith; another possibility is that it was named after James Haworth's son George. The first post office was established in 1828.
The Paris and Danville Railroad was built in 1871, and the "Interurban" started carrying passengers between Georgetown and Danville sometime after 1900.
Passages that mention Georgetown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources1879Read the page →
Read the text
Georgetown village, or rather, as it was then called, the town of Georgetown, was laid out in the spring of 1827, two months after Danville was. The plat was acknowledged before Esquire Asa Elliott,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1930 · page 934Read the page →
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Abram Frazier came from New Market, Tennessee, to Georgetown in 1826. Soon after he returned to Tennessee and in 1828 again made the trip to Georgetown, bringing with him his brother, Abner. They engaged in the general mercantile business on the site of the present Frazier store in Georgetown. In 1859 Abram Frazier retired from business, and disposed of his interests to Captain Kyger, who later served in the Civil War as a member of the Seventy-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources1879 · page 347Read the page →
Read the text
to vote for or against incorporating under the general act, with the following boundaries: commencing at the Wabash railway bridge, thence southwest with said railroad to a point where the state road from Danville to Georgetown crosses said railroad; thence west to the Paris & Danville road (now Danville & Southwestern); thence north to the Vermilion River; thence along said river to the place of beginning.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1930 · page 935Read the page →
Read the text
John A. Frazier attended the public schools of Georgetown and throughout his business career has been identified with the business which was founded at Georgetown by his grandfather in 1828. It is among the largest stores in this section of the county and handles a complete line of men's furnishings and shoes.
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
Georgetown, 1826 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Georgetown’s post office has been open since 1831.
Gone or out of use
Perryville Road Public SchoolschoolSeminary Street Public Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Georgetown
Forest Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Georgetown’s history
What year was Georgetown founded?
In 1826, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Georgetown’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1880 counted 741 people here.
How does Georgetown rank for history?
Georgetown is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #213 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.
How old are the homes in Georgetown?
42% of Georgetown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1951.
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), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
2007
2007
