Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #167 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Libertyville was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 51 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1880.
The Libertyville post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Darlington (1841) and Rockland (1859), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Libertyville is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #167 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Libertyville’s 27.8 sits above most of its state (88% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 57 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The 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.
Libertyville’s post office has been open since 1838. Two 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Libertyville. 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 Libertyville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Libertyville.
The land that is now Libertyville was the property of the Illinois River Potawatomi Indians until August 1829, when economic and resource pressures forced the tribe to sell much of their land in northern Illinois to the U.S. government for $12,000 cash, an additional $12,000 in goods, plus an annual delivery of 50 barrels of salt.
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.
BuiltProctor Building is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltLibertyville High School Brainerd Building is built
In the archiveAerial View of Suburban Chicago, Libertyville North, 1925 (NBY 5336)BuiltPublic Service Building is built
In the archiveUntitled
In the archiveSanta, with an extremely important message for you, Hampton Card (NBY 6445)
Born hereSteve Novak is born here
Born herePhillipa Soo is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1925Aerial View of Suburban Chicago, Libertyville North, …
1928Milwaukee Avenue looking south (NBY 1803)1935Untitled
1936Construction of homes. Libertyville Homesteads, Illin…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Construction of …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.
1897Sheet 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 Libertyville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 550 and 20,742 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Libertyville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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.
The Libertyville post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Libertyville is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #167 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.
8 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Public Service Building (listed 1983, the first), and 3 historic districts, the David Adler Estate, the Mrs. Isaac D. Adler House and the Libertyville Downtown Historic District, with 51 contributing buildings. 57 historic buildings in all.
9% of Libertyville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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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