Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #367 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1900.
The Homewood post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1893.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Homewood is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #367 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Homewood’s 2.6 sits above most of its state (69% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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 Homewood’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Homewood. 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 Homewood.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Homewood yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Homewood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,463 at the 2020 census. It is a south suburb of Chicago.
Its first post office opened in 1869. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 19,323 in 2010, 19,463 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Homewood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
lished, with Joseph Gallener as Postmaster. Henry Zimmer is tho prcseut official, and was appointed in 1805, at which time tho name of the village was Changed to Homewood. The first station agent was (Jt-orgi Churchill, npp dnteil in IS.V', In ISoii George Morris had forty acres of laud, ad joining Hartford on the south, sun eyed and laid out in village lots, under the name of Thornton Station. For a time lots sold
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.
Born hereMabel Sykes is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereT. J. Cummings is born here
In the archiveSRS 147, Sperry Rail Service
Born hereKevin Dillard is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2025Canadian at
2025CN ET44AC Veteran's
2023The Home Depot (Homewood, Illinois) 1
2023Target (Homewood, Illinois) 1
2019Village of Homewood - Village Hall
2018A variety of CN power
2012Ridge Road in Downtown
2011Patriots Park
2010Irwin Park at winter
2010Elgin, Joliet & Eastern EJ&E 665 - September 2010
2009Watertower - panoramio - Lotzman KatzmanNo 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 Homewood’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.
Between 352 and 19,724 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Homewood’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Homewood’s post office has been open since 1869.
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 Homewood post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1893.
Homewood is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #367 of 768 in Illinois. 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 Ravisloe Country Club (listed 2021).
11% of Homewood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.
