Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #520 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Oak Forest was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1950.
Oak Forest dates its founding to 1800 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1950.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oak Forest is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #520 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Oak Forest’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: Wikidata (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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oak Forest. 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 Oak Forest.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Illinois - Cook County - Oak Forest - ED 16-105, …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDunning inmates arriving at Oak Forest Infirmary n008789
Born hereTom Vanderbilt is born here
Born hereLisa Joann Thompson is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Oak Forest.
Human habitation in Oak Forest began during the early Holocene. This is made evident by the remains of hunting camps on what would become the grounds of the city's hospital. Several millennia later, the final known indigenous settlement in Oak Forest, a Potawatomi longhouse village, was established nearby. However, it was abandoned by the 1620s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. 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 Oak Forest’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,856 and 28,051 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oak Forest’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1800, according to Wikidata. Oak Forest’s post office opened in 1912, and the census of 1950 counted 1,856 people here.
Oak Forest is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #520 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.
2% of Oak Forest’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (11), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1910
1910
1914
1914
Date?
2016
2013
2011–2012
2006