Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Streibich Blacksmith Shop. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1982 on, and the census since 1880.
The Newman Township post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Phoenix (1870), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Newman Township’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,264 in 1910; 778 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Newman Township’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Newman Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Newman is a city in Douglas County, Illinois, United States. The population was 778 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1861. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,080 to 1,024 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveDavis Motel and Restaurant, U.S. Highway 36... Restaurant on premises... Newman, Illinois…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Newman 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 Newman 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 Newman Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Another post office, Phoenix, 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 Newman Township post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Streibich Blacksmith Shop (listed 1991).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
