Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #293 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1980 on, and the census since 1850.
The Mount Sterling Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hersmans (1861) and Hersman (1865), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Sterling Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #293 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 Mount Sterling 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 Mount Sterling Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBirds eye view of Mount Sterling, Brown County, Illinois 1869
In the archiveCourthouse, Mount Sterling, Indiana (approximately 1879) - DPLA - 99e33d3b0e9613ae245b516…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Mount Sterling Township.
Mount Sterling was organized in 1854. It did not have a courthouse until 1868, although it was designated the county seat from when the county was organized.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Sterling 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 Mount Sterling Township.
No 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 Mount Sterling Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 556 and 2,262 people in every census since 1850.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Sterling Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Mount Sterling Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Mount Sterling Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #293 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.
23% of Mount Sterling Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1879
2017
2014