Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #131 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Its Register listing is . Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1870.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mound Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #131 of 768 in Illinois. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Mound Township’s 14.2 sits above most of its state (85% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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 Mound Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mound Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mound Township is one of fifteen townships in Effingham County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,575 and it contained 1,541 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,648 to 3,575 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Mound Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The settlement of Mound Township is compratively modern, owing to the fact that most of the land is prairie, which was uninhabitable until the cultivation of adjacent portions of the country led to its drainage. While the settlements were not so far back as those made on the Wabash, yet it is somewhat difficult to get the first settlers' names with cer-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He came to Illinois in 1852, and settled in this county, entering 160 acres of land in jjrairie, on the north side of Blue Mound, Mound Township, and put up the first house that was erected on the prairie, and farmed there until 1863, when he moved to Effingham and engaged in the livery business, in which he has been engaged for nineteen
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mound Township.
1986Effingham sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mound Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,211 and 3,648 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mound Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Mound Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Mound Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #131 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.
19% of Mound Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 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 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.
