Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMore historic than 78% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Clay County Jail and the Clay County Courthouse. Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1860.
The Louisville post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Louisville is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. 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 Louisville’s 25.8 sits above most of its state (88% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Louisville’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereThomas Sutler Williams is born here
Born hereDarren Bailey is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBailey Zimmerman is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Louisville.
The Grand Army of the Republic had a post known as the Louisville Post, No. 249 with the post name of William J. Stephenson. The post received its charter May 18, 1883.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Louisville.
1985Louisville West sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Louisville.
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.
Between 313 and 1,242 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Louisville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Louisville post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Louisville is more historic than 78% 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.
Two places: the Clay County Jail (listed 1998) and the Clay County Courthouse (2015).
10% of Louisville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2012
2012
2012
2007
