Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mississippi Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Mississippi Township’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: our sources. 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 Mississippi Township’s history is told.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mississippi Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mississippi Township is one of eleven townships in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,785 and it contained 792 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,041 to 1,785 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Mississippi Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Coles. He was defeated for that office by Adolphus F. Hubbard, al¬ though he carried Greene County over Hubbard who was elected by 224 majority. He, with his brothers-in-law, John D. and Ezekiel Gillham, in 1818, settled in what is now Mississippi Township, in what was hence¬ forth known as Lofton’s Prairie, so named in honor of its most eminent citizen. For a number of years this settlement was the center of the most intelligent, enterprising and progressive people of the county, and it was the most closely settled. Mr. Lofton was the first judge of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ated until 1888, when the road passed into the hands of another com¬ pany, of which Henry W. and Frederic Fisher were the managers and operators. Under their management the track of the road from Dow in Mississippi Township was changed from Dow on a southwesterly course to Lock Haven, and thence along the river bluffs to Alton, while a branch extended from the Lock Haven station westwardly under the bluffs, and intersected the original road at Elsah, and extended thence into Grafton. This road has been in operation ever since over the last
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi Township.
Between 1,785 and 2,041 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mississippi Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Mississippi Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Mississippi Township is more historic than 50% 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.
22% of Mississippi Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 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.
