Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #607 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Monee Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1870.
The Monee Township post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monee Township is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #607 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 Monee 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: 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 →
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 Monee Township’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monee Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Monee Township.
The village is named for Marie LeFevre Bailly, the wife of fur trader Joseph Bailly, "Monee" being an indigenous-accented pronunciation of "Marie."
Monee was "on the north edge" of the Cyclone of 1917, which damaged trees and structures. Monee's lumberyard supplied materials to rebuild the 67 structures in neighboring Green Garden and Monee Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monee Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The boyhood of F. C. Deutsche was spent on his father's farm in Monee Township. He attended the district schools and remained on the home place until after the time of his marriage in 1887. He then became heir to his farm near Monee, where he specialized in dairy farming. His residence is located on his farm on the west side of the village of Monee. In 1900 Mr. Deutsche retired.
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.
Weddings 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 Monee 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 Monee Township.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Monee Township post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Monee Township is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #607 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.
5% of Monee Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
