Founding year: the first Manito post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Manito’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manito is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Manito’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 Manito’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 C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.2 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 Manito’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was first settled in 1850 and 110 plots of land were created by 1858. The following year the Illinois River Railroad, an early predecessor of the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad, was completed and spurred in an increase in local trade. The settlement was originally named Black Hawk Grove but was later changed to Manito. The name originates from the Algonquian word 'Manitou' or 'manitō' and refers to the fundamental life force believed by certain Native peoples. The first village post office was established under the name Egypt on February 12, 1858, before being changed to its current name on November 4, 1861. Manito was incorporated as a village in 1877.
Passages that mention Manito, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Centennial history of Mason County, including a sketch of the early history of Illinois, its physical peculiarities, soils, climate, production, etc.1876 · page 180Read the page →
Read the text
paign county, Ohio, October 22, 1S3S; came to Illinois in 1858, and permanently located in Mason county, in the vicinity of Manito, in 1859, and engaged in farming, and in the purchase of grain at the town of Manito. Mr. Ganson served two terms as justice of the peace at that place, and a member of the county board of supervisors for four years. In the fall of 1873 he was elected county clerk of Mason county, which important office he still holds. It is a work of super-
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
Manito, 1861 to 1929
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
People over time
Manito, census by census
Between 375 and 1,869 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Manito’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Manito’s history
What year was Manito founded?
The Manito post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Manito rank for history?
Manito is more historic than 35% 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 Manito?
15% of Manito’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (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), 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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