Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #555 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1900.
New Baden dates its founding to 1855 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Baden is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #555 of 768 in Illinois. 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 New Baden’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: Wikipedia (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 New Baden’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Baden. 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 New Baden.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Baden.
New Baden is named after the historical territory of Baden, Germany. It was founded in 1855, remaining a small village until struck by a devastating tornado in 1896. Neighboring communities contributed to the rebuilding, creating a larger, more modern town which began to thrive, its success coinciding with the end of the long depression.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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
In the archiveIllinois - New Baden through Newton
In the archiveProject Blue Book report - 1954-09-8726759-NewBaden-Illinois2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 New Baden’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 510 people in 1900 to 3,428 in 2020, 6 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Baden’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in New Baden itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1855, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Baden’s post office opened in 1867, and the census of 1900 counted 510 people here.
New Baden is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #555 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.
11% of New Baden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (4), 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.
1917
2018