The Hartford post office opened in 1920, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Oldenburg (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,566 in 19302020 census: 1,185106 years
How historic is Hartford?
C
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hartford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hartford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hartford is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hartford’s overall grade.
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 Hartford’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 D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.0 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 Hartford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Numerous oil refineries have occupied the area for many years. An estimated 4 million gallons of gasoline have seeped into the ground under Hartford. The village filed suit on July 21, 2008, against multiple parties over the underground gas plume.
The copper smelter Chemetco operated nearby for around 30 years, ending in 2001. The corporation was found guilty of Clean Water Act offenses after its sustained pollution of Long Lake, a tributary of the Mississippi River, over a ten-year period. This ended following the detection by EPA inspectors of a secret hazardous waste pipe in September 1996. The location, just south of Hartford near the community of Mitchell, was listed as a Superfund priority cleanup site March 4, 2010.
The Hartford post office opened in 1920, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hartford rank for history?
Hartford is more historic than 32% 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 Hartford?
27% of Hartford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 (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) 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.
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