Founding year: the first Hebron post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1895.
History grade
What drives Hebron’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hebron is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hebron’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 Hebron’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 (±6.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1895.
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 Hebron’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hebron yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hebron ( HEE-brihn) is a village in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. It is a commuter village within the Chicago metropolitan area. Per the 2020 census, the population was 1,368.
Its first post office opened in 1839. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,216 to 1,368 (+13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Hebron, 1885–1922
Passages that mention Hebron, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McHenry County, Illinois1885 · page 717Read the page →
Read the text
and soon after his arrival in Chicago enlisted in the Black Hawk war and served till its close. In June, 1836, he moved to McHenry County and took up a claim a mile and a half west of the present village of Hebron, and lived there over forty years. In 1882 he retired from farm life and moved to the village of Hebron. Mr. Giddings was married in Vermont to Elvira Stevens, who died in Napierville, 111. He is now living with his third wife. Politically Mr. Giddings is a Republican.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of McHenry County, Illinois1922 · page 413Read the page →
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POST OFFICE Prior to the building of the railroad the township of Hebron had two country post offices, one of which was situated at the house of Bela H. Tryon, who was the postmaster, the date of establishment being 1839.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
During the sixties, the cemetery at the village of Hebron was laid out and has since been used. This is Located righl south of the main village and is handsomely cared for.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of McHenry County, Illinois1885 · page 355Read the page →
Read the text
March 7, 1878, the body of Miss Ella Shultz, a j'oung lady who had been living in the family of Mr. Buell, of Hebron, was found near the railroad track in a small pond, about a mile from Caledonia, Boone County. She left her home iu Hebron on the 17th of January, without notice to the family, and nothing further was heard of her until the discovery of her body was made.
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.
The Hebron post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1895.
How does Hebron rank for history?
Hebron is more historic than 64% 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 Hebron?
22% of Hebron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (3), 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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