Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1958 on and old-book passages.
The Nebraska Township post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Nebraska (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nebraska Township is more historic than 56% 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 Nebraska 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 Nebraska Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Nebraska Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Nebraska Township is located in Livingston County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,298 and it contained 613 housing units.
Its first post office opened in 1879. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,433 to 1,298 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Nebraska Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The settlers enumerated are believed to be all who made a permanent residence in Nebraska Township, in 1856. As yet no school or church was established, and what few there were, assembled in the houses of those nearest the center, and held divine services there.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The next year, in Nebraska Township, was conducted the second teachers' institute held in Livingston County. The first had been held at the county seat in 1859, but as Nebraska Township contained more teachers than any six miles square in the county, and more persons interested and working in the cause of education, prominent among whom were the Pillsbury family, it was decided that the next annual institute should he held there.
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 Nebraska 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 Nebraska Township.
Nobody well known was born in Nebraska Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Nebraska, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Nebraska Township post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Nebraska Township is more historic than 56% 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.
51% of Nebraska Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1938.
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, 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.
