Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 4% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Jackson Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1870.
More historic than 4% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jackson Township is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Jackson 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.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Jackson Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Jackson Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Jackson Township is one of fifteen townships in Effingham County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,227 and it contained 525 housing units.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,215 in 2010, 1,227 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Jackson Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
purchased a farm of 138 acres in Moccasin and Summit Townships. He traded his land in Moccasin for a farm of eighty acres in Section 16, Jackson Township, and sold his land in Summit, and moved to Jackson Township in 1872. Bought a saw mill the same year and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settlement in what now forms Jackson Township was made by Isaac Fancher in 1825, and is one of the earliest settlements made in the county. His brother, Byron Fancher, settled a year or two later.
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.
Weddings 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 Jackson Township. 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 Jackson Township.
Between 629 and 1,233 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jackson Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Jackson Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Jackson Township is more historic than 4% 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.
0.0% of Jackson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 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.
