Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Manteno

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C−History
History · Manteno

Manteno’s post office opened in 1854

More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #593 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Most of Manteno was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1880.

1854first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Manteno’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Manteno began

When was Manteno founded?

1854

The Manteno post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1855.

First census: 632 in 18802020 census: 9,210172 years

How historic is Manteno?

C−

More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Manteno post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1855.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Manteno’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manteno is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #593 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Manteno’s overall grade.
Founding era1854, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19406.2% of homes (±3.5) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 24%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 23%

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 Manteno’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 (±3.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1855 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

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 Manteno’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Manteno’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manteno’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBird's eye view of Manteno, Kankakee Co…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Manteno came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Manteno.

Read it all →

Manteno was named after Manteno (Mawteno), a daughter of Francois Bourbonnais Jr. (thus her grandfather was the man for whom the city of Bourbonnais was named) and his Potawatomi wife. A Potawatomi name, it is a possible anglicization of manito or manitou, a Potawatomi word for "spirit". Oliver W. Barnard, an early settler in this area, spelled her name "Mantenau" in a poem, romanticizing the Potawatomi maiden. Other 19th century books spell it "Mawteno" and "Manteno".

Because she was of Potawatomi descent, Mawteno (spelled phonetically in the treaty, "Maw-te-no") was given a section of land, now part of Kankakee County, near Soldier Creek, by the treaty of Treaty of Tippecanoe of 1832.

ChaptersOrigins of village nameIncorporation

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Manteno, 1854 to 1984

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Manteno post office opens
  3. 1869In the archiveBird's eye view of Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois 1869
  4. 1898Born hereClipper Smith is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1962In the archiveIllinois Central Train 53 the City of Miami led by E-unit 4040 approaching AX Tower north…
  7. 1984On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Manteno, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item
Bird's eye view of Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois 18691869Bird's eye view of Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois…
1960s1 item
Illinois Central Train 53 the City of Miami led by E-unit 4040 approaching AX Tower north of Manteno, IL on July 22, 19…1962Illinois Central Train 53 the City of Miami led by E-…
1970s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today16 recent
Manteno, IL2026Manteno, ILSidewalk19-12-20 0332019Sidewalk19-12-20 033Plaza 19-12-20 0362019Plaza 19-12-20 036Plaza 19-12-20 0342019Plaza 19-12-20 034Park 19-12-20 0112019Park 19-12-20 011Oak Street 19-12-20 0132019Oak Street 19-12-20 013Merchants Park 19-12-20 0172019Merchants Park 19-12-20 017Gateway 19-12-20 0012019Gateway 19-12-20 001First Street 19-12-20 0352019First Street 19-12-20 035Directions 19-12-20 0232019Directions 19-12-20 023Village of2016Village ofPatrol Squadron 46 conducts maintenance aboard NAF Misawa 140407-N-ZI955-0232014Patrol Squadron 46 conducts maintenance aboard NAF Mi…USMC-070304-M-9057K-0092007USMC-070304-M-9057K-009Rock Creek at flood stage2006Rock Creek at flood stageILMap-doton-Manteno2006ILMap-doton-MantenoDowntown2006Downtown
On the map

Manteno on the map, 1984 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Manteno. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Manteno on the 1984 USGS mapManteno on the 1991 USGS map1984Kankakee sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Manteno.

Every building

Manteno, building by building, 1904–1914

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.

Manteno fire insurance map, 1904, sheet 11904Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bird's eye view of Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois 1869
Retake this viewBird's eye view of Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois 1869, 1869

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Manteno’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Manteno, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,000188019001920194019601980200020209,210

Grew from 632 people in 1880 to 9,210 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Manteno’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Manteno’s post office has been open since 1854.

Gone or out of use
Hillman Memorial HospitalhospitalPhipps Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Manteno
ElmwoodSaint Joseph

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bourbonnais1 historic placeB

Questions about Manteno’s history

What year was Manteno founded?

The Manteno post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1855.

How does Manteno rank for history?

Manteno is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #593 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.

How old are the homes in Manteno?

6% of Manteno’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1994.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (18), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.