Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #82 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Knox County Courthouse and Hall of Records and the Knox County Jail. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1850.
Knoxville dates its founding to 1831 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Knoxville is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #82 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Knoxville’s 9.3 sits above most of its state (82% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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 archiveCarrier's Annual Address to the Patrons of The Knox Republican
In the archiveAtlas of Knox County Illinois
In the archiveKnoxville IL (1908)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Knoxville.
Knoxville was established on January 15, 1831, and called Henderson until its name was changed to Knoxville on December 22, 1832, when it became the county seat. It was one of the first 10 municipalities incorporated in the state and is the oldest town in Knox County. James Knox was a notable early resident.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Knoxville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
location of poor-farm, reported the following proposals: | ^ - 1st. I, John Eads, do hereby agree to convey by deed, for the purpose of, a.r." as a poor-farm for Knox county, state of Illinois, to the board of supervisors Oi said county, my land lying east of the city of Knoxville, in said county, bounded on the north by the Peoria road leading east from Knoxville, on the west and south, by the road leading from Maquon to Knoxville, being about 117 acres and parts of the S, E. quarter of Sec, 27 and N. E. 34 in township II N., range 2 east in said county, for the sum of $17 per acre, provided
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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Knoxville. 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 Knoxville.
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 Knoxville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 798 and 3,432 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Knoxville’s Wikipedia page.
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 1831, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Knoxville’s post office opened in 1844, and the census of 1850 counted 798 people here.
Knoxville is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #82 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.
Two places: the Knox County Courthouse and Hall of Records (listed 1992) and the Knox County Jail (1992).
27% of Knoxville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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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