Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Wood-Tellkamp House, the Allen School and the First Congregational Church of LaMoille. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1880.
La Moille dates its founding to 1830 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 La Moille’s history is told.
Three 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of La Moille.
La Moille was first settled in 1830 by Daniel Dimmick, who went on to found Dimmick, Illinois after the Blackhawk War. The village was originally named Greenfield when platted, but was soon after changed to La Moille. In 1870, an extension of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad began passenger and freight service between Mendota, IL and Fulton, IL.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereEmma Gilson Wallace is born here
BuiltWood-Tellkamp House is built
BuiltAllen School is built
In the archiveMoilledt
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Moille. 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 La Moille.
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 sheet.
1913Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 La Moille’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 488 and 773 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Moille’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1830, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. La Moille’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1880 counted 488 people here.
Three places: the Wood-Tellkamp House (listed 1995), the Allen School (1996) and the First Congregational Church of LaMoille (1996).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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