Founding year: the first Lawrenceville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Lawrenceville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lawrenceville is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #90 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.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lawrenceville’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 Lawrenceville’s 2.5 sits above most of its state (68% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±7.2 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 Lawrenceville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 6,328 in 1950; 4,164 people lived here in 2020.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lawrenceville’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Lawrenceville, building by building, 1895–1918
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.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Lawrenceville, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lawrenceville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Illinois, United States, located along the Embarras River. As of the 2020 census, Lawrenceville had a population of 4,164. Lawrenceville is located in southeast Illinois, northwest of Vincennes, Indiana.
Its first post office opened in 1823. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 4,348 to 4,164 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Lawrenceville, 1823 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lawrenceville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1915Vincennes 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 Lawrenceville.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Illinois - Lawrence County - Lawrenceville - ED 51-11, ED 51-12, ED 51-13, ED 5…, 1880
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lawrenceville’s page.
Lawrenceville’s post office has been open since 1823.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Grisold
1cemetery inside Lawrenceville
Lawrenceville
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Lawrenceville’s history
What year was Lawrenceville founded?
The Lawrenceville post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lawrenceville rank for history?
Lawrenceville is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #90 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.
What is on the National Register in Lawrenceville?
One place: the Lawrence County Courthouse (listed 2010).
How old are the homes in Lawrenceville?
39% of Lawrenceville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1949.
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1880
2010
2009
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