Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 81 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
The Griggsville post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Griggsville is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age 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 Griggsville’s 618 sits above most of its state (99% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 81 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% 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 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.
Peaked at 1,515 in 1880; 1,097 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Griggsville’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Griggsville.
In 1833, Griggsville was platted by pioneers Richard Griggs (for whom the town is named), Joshua Stanford, and Nathan W. Jones. On September 10, 1872, Griggsville was officially incorporated.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Griggsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
An Abolition Melee. — In the year 1838 there occurred an incident in Griggsville which, although not commendable in itself, would be well to record in the annals of Griggsville's history. In those early days, as in more modern times, there w-ere the proslavery and the anti-slavery parties. At the annual election that autumn each party brought forth a strong man for Constable.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
as 1823, and spent one year in Washington Co. From there he moved to Morgan Co., settling near Naples, which is now in Scott Co. In the spring of 1833 he crossed the Illinois river into Pike Co. and settled on sec. 6, Griggsville tp., where he resided until his death, which occurred at Griggsville, Aug. 13, 1878. When at the age of 18 he started out in life to do for himself He hired to a gentleman by the name of Thomas Smith for $8 per month, one-half in trade. He worked for 3 months, when he
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
James McWilliams, venerable for his years, influential in his town of Griggsville, has been a representative of the county in the Legislature and often a Supervisor of Griggsville township. He is an early settler of Griggsville.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Griggsville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Griggsville.
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 Griggsville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Griggsville post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Griggsville is more historic than 97% 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 Griggsville Historic District (listed 1979).
35% of Griggsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
1852
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