Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 2000.
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 Maine Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Maine Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Maine Township is one of seventeen townships in Grundy County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 293 and it contained 125 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 330 to 293 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Maine Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Maine Township is one of the comparatively new sections of Grundy County, having been laid off March 7. 1898, and as il lies between Braceville Township and Mazon Township, its early history is the same as that of the two from which it was taken. It is hounded on the north by Goose Lake Township, on the east by Braceville Township, on the smith by Garfield
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Maine Township. 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 Maine Township.
Between 244 and 330 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Maine Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Maine Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
