The story
Read it all →How Good Hope came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Good Hope.
Early in its history the town was also at times spelled "Goodhope". It was settled by 1840.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Good Hope
Good Hope dates to 1840, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1880.
1840founded
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Good Hope began
When was Good Hope founded?
1840
Good Hope dates its founding to 1840 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
First census: 325 in 18802020 census: 363186 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1858.The full story ↓
What stands out about Good Hope’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Good Hope’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Good Hope’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Good Hope on the map, 1916 to 1998
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Good Hope. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1916Good Hope sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Good Hope.
Timeline
Good Hope, 1840 to 1916
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1840FoundingGood Hope is established
- 1840Born hereFrancis M. Lyman is born here
- 1858Post officeThe Good Hope post office opens
- 20th century
- 1916
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
From the old history books
What they wrote about Good Hope in 1878
Passages that mention Good Hope, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McDonough county, Illinois1878 · page 591Read the page →
Read the text
Sailing on the Prairie. — Thomas Camp, in 1849, settled near where the present town of Good Hope is situated. All north of him for many miles was one vast, unbroken wilderness, with not a house or dwelling of any kind, and also perfectly void of timber, A few winters after his settlement upon the prairie, there came a heavy fall of snow, and upon the top of that a sleet of rain, which freezing, formed a solid crust on top, and over which a man could walk or slide. Mr. Camp thought he would have a
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.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumPeople over time
Good Hope, census by census
Between 325 and 477 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Good Hope’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Good Hope’s history
What year was Good Hope founded?
In 1840, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Good Hope’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1880 counted 325 people here.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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 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.