Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1890.
The Melvin post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Melvin’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Melvin yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Melvin is a village in Ford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 416 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 452 to 416 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Melvin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
preacher living at "Olive Grove," came into Peach Orchard township and established a regular preaching place at Grand Prairie schoolhouse in 1869, which, with similar preaching places in neighboring townships was called Pierce's Mission. When the village of Melvin was started the Grand Prairie appointment was moved to Melvin. Its name was changed to the IMethodist Episcopal church, with Rev. T. P. Henry as first pastor on a circuit of three appointments, namely, IMelvin, Roberts and Bell schoolhouse, Ole Johnson, James Dixon, Charles Phillips and T. D. Thompson, being the first board of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1868 he removed to Ford county, settling in Peach Orchard township before the railroad was built or the town of Melvin founded. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, constituting the northwest quarter of section 28, and is still the owner of that property, on which he continuously made his home until 1874, when he rented his farm and engaged in the grain business in Melvin in partnership with William Frasius and George T. Arends under the firm style of Frasius, lehl & Company. They dealt in grain, seeds and coal, conducting a successful business until 1876, when the senior part-
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Melvin.
1986Melvin East sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Melvin.
Between 416 and 559 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Melvin’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Melvin post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
