Marseilles’ post office opened in 1835, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #55 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1870.
Founding year: the first Marseilles post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Marseilles’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marseilles is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #55 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marseilles’ 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 Marseilles’ 9.3 sits above most of its state (82% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 (±7.2 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 Marseilles’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lovell Kimball arrived at the area along the Illinois River known as the Grand Rapids in 1833 from Watertown, New York. Kimball, aware that the Illinois-Michigan Canal Bill had passed and the canal would eventually reach the rapids, hired a surveyor to lay out a town. Kimball called the town Marseilles in reference to the French city of Marseille as he hoped it would become a similar industrial center in Illinois. Marseilles, pronounced the same as the French city, was officially platted on June 3, 1835; the plat was revised twice for railroad and canal right-of-ways.
Passages that mention Marseilles, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of LaSalle County, Illinois1877 · page 310Read the page →
Read the text
P. R. R. pass through the bottom between the bluff and the river, bringing a choice of transportation facilities to the doors of all its people. The town of Marseilles is about equally divided between the towns of Rutland and Manlius, and is destined to be an important place. The Grand Rapids of the Tilinols furnish a water power equal to any demand that will be made upon it, and the earliest
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of LaSalle County, Illinois1877 · page 60Read the page →
Read the text
had for years been holding the Ilinois river as a line of defense against the northern Indians, and had a chain of posts or fortifications for defending that line; one at Marseilles, opposite the rapide, one at the mouth of the Kankakee, and one above Joliet; the remains of that at Marseilles can still be seen. The extermination of the war party at Starved Rock is supposed to have been the last stand made by the
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.
By decade
Marseilles, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
The Marseilles post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Marseilles rank for history?
Marseilles is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #55 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 Marseilles?
Two places: the Marseilles Hydro Plant (listed 1989) and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Depot (1995).
How old are the homes in Marseilles?
32% of Marseilles’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 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 the Library of Congress (11), the National Register of Historic Places (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 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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