Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #621 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Monee was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1870.
The Monee post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 21% 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 is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #621 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’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’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’s Wikipedia page.
Monee’s post office has been open since 1853.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Monee.
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, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village of Monee was laid out by Henry M. Ward, for August Herbert, in 1853. August Herbert was in the Mexican war, and, being honorably discharged at the close, he was given a warrant entitling him to 160 acres of the unoccupied Government land, wherever he might choose to locate. So, in 1849, he found his way to this township, and located the southeast quarter of Section 21. When the railroad was located, though it did not run through Herbert's land, it ran so close that his land became available as a part of thetown site. He therefore sold to the railroad company forty acres ; and this,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The village of Monee was laid out by Henry M. Ward, for August Herbert, in 1853. August Herbert was in the Mexican war, and, being honorably discharged at the close, he was given a warrant entitling him to 100 acres of the unoccupied Government land, wherever he might choose to locate. So, in 1849, he found his way to this township, and located the southeast quarter of Section 21. When the railroad was located, though it di"d not run through Herbert's land, it ran so close that his land became available as a part of the town site. He therefore sold to the railroad company forty acres ; and this,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Monee Village. — This village was platted in 1853 for August Herbert, on section 21, where he located 160 acres in 1849, under a land warrant granted to him for services in the Mexican war. In 1852 he sold to the Illinois Central railroad company a tract of forty acres, which was also platted, and both form the village. The first house was brought hither by Simeon Abbot, in 1852. In 1853 the owner of the town built a house, which now forms a part of Kittering's hotel. Later in 1853 0.
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 Survey
Born hereTony Zych is born hereWeddings 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. 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Monee post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Monee is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #621 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’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 2003.
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, 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.
