Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #65 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 43 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Marshall dates its founding to 1835 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marshall is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #65 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Marshall’s 121 sits above most of its state (94% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 49 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Marshall’s history is told.
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.
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marshall.
Marshall was officially organized by William B. Archer in 1835, eight years after the National Road entered the community. The city was named after John Marshall, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall was incorporated on May 14, 1873.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Marshall, cut from the printed page as they were published.
This act fixed the boundaries of Marshall as they '. now are, except that the two townships on the east, ' then belonging to the county of La Salle, were not included. At the same session, however, an act was passed •' to add range one to the counties of Marshall and Putnam," which provided for the addition of these two townships to Marshall, if the qualified voters therein gave their assent. This was not ob-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Sparland. — This is the town laid down upon the published map of Marshall county as "West Laeon," being the cluster of buildings about the Laeon station on the Peoria and Bureau Valley Railroad, one mile west of the county seat. The first settler upon its site was Franklin W. Graves, from Indiana, a man of large intelligence and generous hospitality, who settled in 1830, and perished miserably sixteen y6ars
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereEd Mayer is born here
Born hereFenton Whitlock Booth is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Illinois - Clark County - Marshall - ED 12-9A, ED…
Born hereCharles Le Moyne is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereChris Bennett is born here
In the archiveHistoric National Road - Downtown2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marshall. 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 Marshall.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Marshall’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,885 people in 1880 to 3,947 in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marshall’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Marshall’s post office has been open since 1837.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1835, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Marshall’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1880 counted 1,885 people here.
Marshall is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #65 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.
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Archer House Hotel (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Marshall Business Historic District, with 43 contributing buildings. 49 historic buildings in all.
20% of Marshall’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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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