Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #160 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 136 buildings between them. Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1880.
Kankakee dates its founding to 1853 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kankakee is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #160 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 Kankakee’s 60.0 sits above most of its state (91% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 144 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1887Sheet 2 of 6Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1869Bird's eye view of the city of Kankakee, Kankakee Cou…
1890Eastern Illinois Hospital
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill. Merchant Street and Ill…
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill. Main Building Illinois …
1890"The Margaret" on the Kankakee River
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill. Illinois Central R.R. D…
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill., Main Entrance, Hospital
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill. Hospital from Riverview…
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill. Young Men's Christian A…
1890Greetings from Kankakee, Ill. Washington Ave., Concre…
1896Bird's eye view of Kankakee, IllFrom Wikipedia’s history of Kankakee.
The city's name is probably derived from a corrupted version of the Miami-Illinois word teeyaahkiki, meaning "open country/exposed land/land in open/land exposed to view", in reference to the area's prior status as a marsh. Kankakee was founded in 1854.
On March 10, 2026, a high-end EF3 tornado struck the south side of Kankakee, with winds up to 160 miles per hour.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Kankakee, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Mr. S. W. Skelly, who, as a youth, was first a resident of Kankakee and later of Waldron, or Aroma Park, recalls that shortly after the building of the railroad, in 1853, power boats were placed on the Kankakee for the purpose of conveying freight and passengers to and from Waldron and Kankakee and also between Momence and Kankakee. There
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The coming of the Illinois Central railroad to Kankakee in 1853 was most inopportune for the success of an ambitious development enterprise launched as far back as 1846, when the Illinois legislature passed a special act incorporating the Kankakee & Iroquois Navigation and Machinery Company. This company was organized with a capital stock
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
For about a year after his marriage Mr. Milk resided in Auburn, N. Y., and in 1855 removed with his family to Kankakee, which has since been his home. About 1872, he engaged in merchandising in Chebanse, Iroquois County, and for raan3' years carried one of the largest stocks of genei-al merchandise in the two counties of Kankakee and Iroquois, on the dividing line of which lies the
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.
In the archiveBird's eye view of the city of Kankakee, Kankakee County, Illinois 1869BuiltKankakee State Hospital Historic District is builtIn the archiveEastern Illinois HospitalBuiltIllinois Central Railroad Depot is built
In the archiveGreetings from Kankakee, Ill.; Main Entrance, Hospital; Chapel Ill. East. Hospital for th…
Born hereFred MacMurray is born here
Born hereMerna Kennedy is born here
Born hereDavid Bruce is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAdam Kinzinger is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kankakee. 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 Kankakee.
No 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 Kankakee’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 5,651 and 30,944 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kankakee’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Kankakee’s post office has been open since 1866.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1853, according to Wikidata. Kankakee’s post office opened in 1866, and the census of 1880 counted 5,651 people here.
Kankakee is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #160 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.
10 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Warren Hickox House (listed 1978, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Riverview Historic District and the Kankakee State Hospital Historic District, with 136 contributing buildings. 144 historic buildings in all.
29% of Kankakee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (15), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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