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History · Kinmundy

Kinmundy’s post office opened in 1855, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Calendar Rohrbough House and the Illinois Central Railroad Water Tower and Pump House. Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1880.

1855first post office
2on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Kinmundy began

When was Kinmundy founded?

1855

The Kinmundy post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,096 in 18802020 census: 733171 years
Founding year: the first Kinmundy post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Kinmundy’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Kinmundy are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1893 to 1907, drew every building in Kinmundy.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kinmundy’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kinmundy’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Kinmundy, building by building, 1893–1907

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.

Kinmundy fire insurance map, 1893, sheet 11893Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Kinmundy came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kinmundy.

Read it all →

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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kinmundy, 1855 to 1945

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Kinmundy post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1929Born hereMarilyn Kaytor is born here
  5. 1945On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Kinmundy, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Calendar Rohrbough House2013Calendar Rohrbough House
On the map

Kinmundy on the map, 1945 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kinmundy. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Kinmundy on the 1945 USGS mapKinmundy on the 1985 USGS map1945Kinmundy 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.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Kinmundy

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
first listed
1979
Calendar Rohrbough House
Calendar Rohrbough HouseIllinois Central Railroad Water Tower and Pump House
BuildingsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Water Tank1
Calendar Rohrbough HouseBuilding
Illinois Central Railroad Water Tower and Pump HouseWater Tank

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Kinmundy, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,221

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’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Kinmundy’s history

What year was Kinmundy founded?

The Kinmundy post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Kinmundy?

Two places: the Calendar Rohrbough House (listed 1979) and the Illinois Central Railroad Water Tower and Pump House (1998).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.