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B+History
History · Granville

Granville’s post office opened in 1847, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1880.

1847first post office
0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Niels0827 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Granville began

When was Granville founded?

1847

The Granville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 260 in 18802020 census: 1,359179 years

How historic is Granville?

B+

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Granville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Granville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Granville is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. 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 Granville’s overall grade.
Founding era1847, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194034.3% of homes (±8.3) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 73%
NewerOlder

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 Granville’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 (±8.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Granville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Granville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1890, then grew 9-fold.On the map since 18935 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1979. Watch Granville change.Deep rootsA post office since 1847: 179 years of Granville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Granville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Granville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Granville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018801900192019401960198020002020260 in 1880Low: 148

Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1890, then grew 9-fold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Granville’s Wikipedia page.

On the map

Granville on the map, 1893 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Granville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Granville on the 1893 USGS mapGranville on the 1911 USGS mapGranville on the 1947 USGS mapGranville on the 1966 USGS mapGranville on the 1979 USGS map1893La Salle sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Granville.

The story

How Granville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Granville.

Read it all →

The village of Granville is named after Granville, Massachusetts. The founding of the St. Paul Mine in neighboring Mark in 1903 and the Berry Mine in nearby Standard in 1905 caused Granville to expand from a farming center to become a commercial center in a coal mining region.

On April 20, 2004, Granville was struck by a series of tornadoes, which destroyed the local primary school, the high school baseball diamond, and numerous houses.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Granville, 1847 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Granville post office opens
  3. 1857Born hereSamuel Wilson Parr is born here
  4. 1865Born hereCharles Atwood Kofoid is born here
  5. 1870Born hereEd Hall is born here
  6. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 20th century
  8. 1905Born hereRed Ruffing is born here
  9. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 1,537
By decade

Granville, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Granville, Illinois2013Granville, IllinoisGranville, Illinois2012Granville, IllinoisGranvilleIL2008GranvilleILILMap-doton-Granville2006ILMap-doton-Granville
Famous people

4 famous people were born in Granville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Red RuffingAmerican baseball player and coach · b. 1905
Charles Atwood KofoidAmerican zoologist · b. 1865
E
Ed HallAmerican football and baseball player and coach… · b. 1870
Samuel Wilson ParrAmerican chemist · b. 1857
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

MarkIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Granville’s history

What year was Granville founded?

The Granville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Granville rank for history?

Granville is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. 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 Granville?

34% of Granville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1957.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), 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) 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.