Founding year: the first Kinmundy Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Kinmundy Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kinmundy Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kinmundy 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 Kinmundy Township’s 18.0 sits above most of its state (86% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 (±8.1 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 Kinmundy Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The origins of the town of Kinmundy are rooted in the expansion of the railroads in southern Illinois, with the first significant economic influence being construction work on the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. In April 1857, the town was initially laid out east of the railroad, in 15 blocks of varying sizes, and later, incorporated as a city in 1867.
In 1903 Kinmundy was struck by a fire in the evening that burnt down most of the downtown area, causing the sharpest drop in population in the town's history. One of the buildings that burnt was the opera house, which was rebuilt before burning again for the second, and final time in 1916, not being rebuilt afterward.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kinmundy Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1945Kinmundy 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 Kinmundy Township.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Kinmundy Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Kinmundy Township, census by census
Between 733 and 1,221 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kinmundy Township’s Wikipedia page.
The Kinmundy Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kinmundy Township rank for history?
Kinmundy Township is more historic than 65% 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 Kinmundy Township?
18% of Kinmundy Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1966.
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), Wikipedia, 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.
2013
