The Oglesby post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Deer Park (1848) and Deer Park (1906), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 3,194 in 19102020 census: 3,712160 years
How historic is Oglesby?
B−
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Oglesby post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Oglesby’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oglesby is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #421 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Oglesby’s overall grade.
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 Oglesby’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Oglesby’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Oglesby was a center for mining coal, limestone, and silica, located near the confluence of the Illinois River and the north-flowing Vermilion River. Oglesby grew from an amalgamation of several mining villages, such as Kenosha, Portland, and Black Hollow. It was originally called Portland, due to the cement mined and manufactured in the area that was similar to Portland Cement from England. It was renamed in 1913 after the coal company and in honor of Richard J. Oglesby (1824–1899), a former U.S. Senator and three-time Governor of Illinois.
The Oglesby post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Oglesby rank for history?
Oglesby is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #421 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.
How old are the homes in Oglesby?
27% of Oglesby’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (8), 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.
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