Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1880.
The Harmon post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Harmon’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Harmon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Harmon is a village in Lee County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Harmon had a population of 111.
Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 120 to 111 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Harmon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
tSuon after the village of Harmon was platted in 1872, a schoolhouse was built on the present site ; a larger frame building succeeded this one, which was burned in 1899. In 1900 the present brick structure was erected with three departments. Ten grades of work are offered here.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The village of Harmon, situated on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, was laid out in 1871, on land owned by A. Kenyon. The present population of the village is about three hundred. Surrounded by a wide scope of country, which, owing to the industry of its enterprising citizens, is rapidly improving, Harmon promises to become one of the thriving inland villages of Lee count3\ It has two
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
he moved with his father's family to De Kalb county, Illinois, and remained ten years. At the end of that time he came to Marion township and bought land in Sec. 11. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Abell moved to the village of Harmon, where he spent three years in teaching school. In 1877 he returned to Marion township and engaged in the dry-goods and grocery business at Walton Station, and is also buying grain at that place. He was married in 1873, to Miss Lvdia A. Rathburn, a native of Lee county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Recently, the Northwestern Railroad in reaching Peoria, entered Harmon township, but no station has been established in this township along the line of the road. Harmon early learned the l^enefits of hard roads and now, year by year, her people are spending considerable sums for macadam for her muddy roads. The rural schools of Harmon township number six, I believe, and I am told that they rank just as high as the splendid village schools. Count_y superintendents tell me that
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.
In the archiveHarmon IL Nov 6 1908
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harmon. 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 Harmon.
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 Harmon’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 111 and 238 people in every census since 1880.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harmon’s Wikipedia page.
The Harmon post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.
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