Founding year: the first Lewistown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lewistown’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lewistown is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. 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 Lewistown’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 Lewistown’s 5.6 sits above most of its state (76% 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 A− 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 Lewistown’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city was named for Lewis Winans Ross, the son of its first settler, Ossian M. Ross. Originally named Fulton Courthouse with the establishment of its post office in 1824, it was renamed to Lewistown on March 14, 1831. It contains a tempera on canvas mural titled Lewistown Milestones, painted by Ida Abelman in 1941, depicting the Lincoln–Douglas debates. Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the U.S. Treasury Department.
Passages that mention Lewistown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Fulton county, Illinois1879 · page 247Read the page →
Read the text
are similar in construction, and it would be useless, and worse, to speak of them as often as they occur. At this meeting a petition was presented from sundry citizens " for a road running from the town of Lewistown through the village of Peoria in said county." The present thriving city of Peoria was only a " village," Avhile Lewistown was able to wear the more exalted name of " town." Viewers were ajjpointed, as Avas the custom, and the road viewed and thought to be of "practical utility," and was then ordered by the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Fulton county, Illinois1879 · page 409Read the page →
Read the text
gress from this District, and is now serving his second terra as a member of that body. He has also served in the State Legislature ; and when Abraham Lincoln called for troops in 1861, Mr. Boyd went as Captain of the first company raised at Lewistown. A full sketch of this gentleman will be given in the history of the city of Lewistown.
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.
By decade
Lewistown, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
The Lewistown post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lewistown rank for history?
Lewistown is more historic than 87% 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.
What is on the National Register in Lewistown?
One place: the Oak Hill Cemetery (listed 1995).
How old are the homes in Lewistown?
30% of Lewistown’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 1958.
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
1922
2014
2013
