Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1930 on and old-book passages.
The Newman post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.
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’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Newman 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 865 to 778 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Newman, cut from the printed page as they were published.
1,077, Demg at that time next to the smallest, but as the city of Newman has rapidly increased since that time the township now ranks third or fourth in the county in the number of inhabitants. The population in the city of Newman was over 1,000 in 1876. Acres in the township cultivated 29,560 Acres in the township not cultivated 796 Town lots, Newman 240 Total acres 30,596
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
There is no trading point of any importance in the township, the business being divided between the neighboring towns of Newman and Oakland, in Coles count)-, the local pet name of which is "Pin Hook." The onl\ post office is Brushy Fork, in section 22, 15, 10, commonly called "Nipantuck." Columbus, a town, was laid out in February, 1841, on section 35, 15, 10, now unknown. The Illinois Midland Railway crosses about two miles of the township in the southwest corner, passing through Oakland in Coles county, which,
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. 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 Newman’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Newman post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
