Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Gillespie’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gillespie is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #391 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Gillespie’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 Gillespie’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1853.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.2 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Gillespie’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 5,111 in 1930; 3,168 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gillespie’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Gillespie, building by building, 1894–1913
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.
The first group of settlers arrived to the area of Gillespie in the late 1820s from Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. The township thrived in the 1830s, increasing in population and businesses. In 1835 the first schoolhouse was built. Gillespie was incorporated as a town in the spring of 1853. By 1904, the population rose to 3,100 and there were a number of businesses, churches, and schools. On January 29, 1905, a fire swept through the business district and destroyed most businesses and some homes.
For years, Gillespie's main source of employment were the multiple coal mines scattered throughout the township operated by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. It is said that Gillespie boasted three of the largest coal mines in the world.
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.
In 1853, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Gillespie’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1880 counted 432 people here.
How does Gillespie rank for history?
Gillespie is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #391 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 Gillespie?
33% of Gillespie’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 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 (5), 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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