Founding year: the first Hopedale Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hopedale Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hopedale Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hopedale Township’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 Hopedale Township’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 C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 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 Hopedale Township’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 Hopedale Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hopedale is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 830 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is also home to a small number of restaurants, general stores, parks, and the Hopedale Medical Complex.
Its first post office opened in 1853. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,913 to 1,844 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
Hopedale Township, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hopedale Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1951Minier sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hopedale Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewHopedale Hospital, Hopedale, Illinois (NBY 429023), 1958
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hopedale Township’s page.
The Hopedale Township post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hopedale Township rank for history?
Hopedale Township is more historic than 43% 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 Hopedale Township?
22% of Hopedale Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1972.
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), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1958
