Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the William W. Gray House. Its Register listing is the William W. Gray House. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1871 on and old-book passages.
The Grayville post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bonpas (1881), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grayville is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Grayville’s 6.3 sits above most of its state (78% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grayville’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJames Meredith Helm is born here
In the archiveMap of White County, Illinois
In the archivePoolroomFrom Wikipedia’s history of Grayville.
Grayville was founded in about 1810 by the head of the Gray family, James Gray. The city became popular for its oil. Many people came to drill for oil. In the 1950s the population began to drop. Unlike other Illinois oil towns, Grayville still tends to thrive.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Grayville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
By act of the Legislature of 1851 Grayville was to become an incorporated town May 5, that year, if the citizens on that day should vote for it; but it seems that they did not vote for it at that time; and March 4, 1855, an act was approved, incorporating the “ town of Grayville, in the counties of White and Edwards,” and granting the usual powers, duties and franchises of incorporated towns in this State. The act, if quoted in full, would cover twelve or fifteen pages of this work. According to the records of Gray¬
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This was one of the pioneer papers in Southern Illinois, being started before the days of railroads or telegraphs, and when news necessarily traveled slowly, being brought by steamer or by irreg¬ ular post. The Advocate was started at Grayville, in this county, Sept. 24, 1858, by Henry Charles, of Grayville or vicinity. The materid of the office came originally from Scotland, and was for a time used at New Harmony, Posey Co., Ind. Much of the type used in printing the Advooate, and some of the old type-
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Grayville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Grayville’s post office has been open since 1837. Another post office, Bonpas, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Grayville post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Grayville is more historic than 79% 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.
One place: the William W. Gray House (listed 1992).
17% of Grayville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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