Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns · #431 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Milan was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1967. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
Milan dates its founding to 1837 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Milan is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #431 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Milan’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.
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 Milan’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Milan. 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 Milan.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Milan.
The village is on the Rock River in northwest Illinois, about 4 miles upstream of its outlet to the Mississippi. The village is the site of the south campsites which comprised the Sauk and Fox village of Saukenuk, once the second-largest Native American inhabitation in North America.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Milan, cut from the printed page as they were published.
s3 s in this county. One, the largest, where the village of Milan now stands, near the mouth of Rock River. Of this village, Hon. T. A. Armstrong, in his history of the Black Hawk War, says : Saukenuk, or Saukietown, nestled at the foot of the promontory on the peninsula, upon the north
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 hereRalph Fletcher Seymour is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMemri Drive-In Theater (NBY 4684)
Born hereEthan Happ is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2019Light Mission Pentecostal Church
2017Trinity UMC
2017Milan Foursquare Church
2016Milan Parkway - IL5 Signs
2013Quad Cities 2013
2013Musk Thistle Partially Open
2013Musk Thistle Fully Open
2013Milan, IL sunset
2013Hennepin Canal Lock 31 East
2013American White Pelican female
2011Mil - ModernWarehousing
2006ILMap-doton-MilanNo 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 Milan’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 692 and 6,371 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Milan’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Milan’s post office has been open since 1870.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1837, according to Wikidata. Milan’s post office opened in 1870, and the census of 1880 counted 845 people here.
Milan is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #431 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% of Milan’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 1967.
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 (13), 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.
