Macomb dates to 1830, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #49 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 65 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1831.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Macomb’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Macomb is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #49 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Macomb’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 Macomb’s 47.0 sits above most of its state (90% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 70 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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 (±4.1 points). Two sources give 1830.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Macomb’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Macomb, building by building, 1886–1924
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.
First settled in 1829 on a site tentatively named "Washington", the town was officially founded in 1830 as the county seat of McDonough County and given the name "Macomb" after Alexander Macomb, a general in the War of 1812. War veterans were given land grants in the Macomb area, which was part of the "Military Tract" set aside by Congress. In 1855 the Northern Cross Railroad, a predecessor to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, was constructed through Macomb, leading to a rise in the town's population. On April 24, 1899, the Western Illinois State Normal School, currently Western Illinois University, was founded in Macomb. Representative Lawrence Sherman was instrumental in locating the school in Macomb. In 1903 the Macomb and Western Illinois Railway was built from Macomb to nearby Industry and Littleton by local financier Charles V. Chandler, though this railroad was abandon…
Passages that mention Macomb, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McDonough County, Illinois1878 · page 609Read the page →
Read the text
Until the year 1841, the town of Macomb was governed by the Board of County Commissioners. In this year an act of incorporation was passed by the Legislature granting legislative powers to a board of five trustees. The limits of the town were made one square mile, with the public square of Macomb as its center.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of McDonough county, Illinois1878 · page 19Read the page →
Read the text
Point," in the southwest corner of New Salem township, where he remained about three years, removing to Spring Creek, in the north part of the county. Elias McFadden, also, at this time settled near the present city of Macomb, living on the farm now owned by William Hunter, about one mile south of the city, John Baker came out in the fall of this year, or in the spring of '29, and built the first house on the site of the present city of Macomb.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of McDonough county, Illinois1878 · page 69Read the page →
Read the text
Macomb. — Elias McFadden was the first settler in the vicinity'' of the present city of Macomb, and came to the place in the fall of 1828, or spring of 1829. He was followed soon after by John Baker, who is elsewhere spoken of in this work. After Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of McDonough County, Illinois1878 · page 582Read the page →
Read the text
owing to present difiiculties they were suspended, in the hope of more auspicious circumstances. In the space of a few years, several families having removed from the neighborhood of Jerusalem Chapel to the vicinity of Macomb, the question of transfer of the congregation to Macomb was agitated. The proper arrangements having been made, a meeting for that purpose took place at the Cumberland Presbvterian Church in Macomb, Januarv 11, 1875, where the congregation re-organized under the name and
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.
Timeline
Macomb, 1830 to 1975
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.
East VillageGeorgetownLamone VillageUniversity Village
Gone or out of use
Apostolic LighthousechurchBrown ChapelchurchChristian Endeavor ChapelchurchChristian Faith CenterchurchFaith Fellowship ChapelchurchFirst Born Church of the Living GodchurchJackson Street Cumberland Presbyterian ChurchchurchMacomb Alliance ChurchchurchMacomb Female SeminaryschoolMacomb Free Methodist ChurchchurchMcDonough County OrphanagebuildingSecond Baptist ChurchchurchUniversalist Church of MacombchurchWestern Academyschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Macomb
OakwoodOld MacombOld MacombSaint PaulSimpson
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Macomb’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
In 1830, according to Wikidata. Macomb’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1850 counted 756 people here.
How does Macomb rank for history?
Macomb is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #49 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 Macomb?
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the McDonough County Courthouse (listed 1972, the first), and 1 historic district, the Macomb Courthouse Square historic District, with 65 contributing buildings. 70 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Macomb?
24% of Macomb’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (5), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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