Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #618 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Olympia Fields was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1930.
The Olympia Fields post office opened in 1918, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1927. Another post office, Rich (1853), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Olympia Fields is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #618 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold 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 Olympia Fields’ 14.8 sits above most of its state (85% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 Olympia Fields’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Olympia Fields. 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 Olympia Fields.
From Wikipedia’s history of Olympia Fields.
The area that comprises the village today was once farmland managed by immigrant families during the 1830s. The Illinois Central Railroad began serving the area in the 1850s, which fostered population and economic growth during that era.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. 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 Olympia Fields’ 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.
Between 101 and 4,988 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Olympia Fields’ Wikipedia page.
Olympia Fields’s post office has been open since 1918. Another post office, Rich, 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 Olympia Fields post office opened in 1918, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1927.
Olympia Fields is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #618 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.
Two places: the Olympia Fields Country Club (listed 2001) and the Rockwell House (2024).
0.0% of Olympia Fields’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.
