Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #335 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: maps from 1899 on.
The Newell Township post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Newell (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Newell Township was named for Squire James Newell, the first Justice of the Peace for the area.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newell Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #335 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls 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 Newell Township’s 0.7 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Newell Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Newell 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 Newell Township.
Another post office, Newell, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Newell Township.
The first sale of land in this area was in 1824 to Obadiah Le Neve, who settled here just before Christmas of that year. It was not until 1851 that the county was divided up into its first eight townships, and Newell Township was one of those. It was named for Squire James Newell, the first Justice of the Peace for the area.
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Newell Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Newell Township post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Newell Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #335 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.
22% of Newell Township’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 1966.
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
