Founding year: the first Lovington post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Lovington’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lovington is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lovington’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 Lovington’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 (±11.5 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 Lovington’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lovington yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lovington is a village in Moultrie County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,069 at the 2020 census. Lovington was named after Andrew Love, the first postmaster in the area.
Its first post office opened in 1839. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,130 to 1,069 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Lovington in 1908
Passages that mention Lovington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1869 Lovington circuit was set off from Sullivan and John W. Lapham was appointed to the circuit. After a few years it was made a station and it soon became apparent that we would need a new house of worship. The matter was not agitated very strongly until 1893, when the present beautiful church was erected and dedicated by Bishop Moore and the old building was sold. And now, with a new church, a new preacher and a new congrega-
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
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Lovington’s history
What year was Lovington founded?
The Lovington post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lovington rank for history?
Lovington is more historic than 73% 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.
How old are the homes in Lovington?
33% of Lovington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 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.
