Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The Marine Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 49% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marine Township is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Marine Township’s 4.7 sits above most of its state (74% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Marine Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marine Township.
The village of Marine, originally referred to as Marinetown, was settled in 1834 by George W. Welsh, James Semple, Jordan W. Jeffress, and Abram "Abraham" Breath, who were sailors. The sound of the prairie grass blowing in the fields had reminded them of the sea, hence the name Marine. It was incorporated as a village in 1867 and reincorporated in 1888.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 Marine 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 Marine Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 126 and 972 people in every census since 1850.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marine Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Marine Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Marine Township is more historic than 49% 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.
One place: the Marine Chapter House (listed 1980).
10% of Marine Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1989.
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
