Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1818.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Palestine’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Palestine is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Palestine’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 Palestine’s 182 sits above most of its state (96% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 26 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.4 points). Two sources give 1811.
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 →
What stands out about Palestine’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1678, French explorer Jean LaMotte named the region after Palestine, because the area reminded him of the biblical "land of milk and honey."
Palestine was chartered in 1811, while the area still belonged to Virginia, and is one of the oldest towns in the State of Illinois. It was named the seat of Crawford County in 1818. Elections in 1843 moved the county seat to a new site, which would become the town of Robinson. It was officially incorporated as an Illinois town in 1855.
Passages that mention Palestine, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Guide-book to Central Palestine, Samaria and Southern Galilee1918 · page 51Read the page →
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on to the left are the German colonies of Umm el- Am ed or Waldheim (Protestants) and Bethlehem (Templars) founded in 1906-7. 12 3/4 m. the village of Jeida. — 15 m. Semiiniyeh, to the left on the hill, the* first settlement in Palestine of the German Templars (1868), is now deserted. Not far from the road is an unwholesome spring. Farther on, on an isolated hill in the plain, is Jebdta (an ancient Gabatha).
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Guide-book to Central Palestine, Samaria and Southern Galilee1918Read the page →
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wards erected churches here and transterred hither the bishopric of Scythopolis. In 1229 the Emperor Frederick II. rebuilt the place, and in 1250 it was visited by Louis IX. of France. When the Franks were finally driven out of Palestine, Nazareth Iosl much of its importance. After the conquest of Palestine by the l urks, in 1517, the Christians were compelled to leave the place. At length in 1620, the Franciscans, aided by Fakhreddin, established themselves at Nazareth. Under the Arab Sheikh Zahir el-’Omar the place recovered a share of its former prosperity. In April, 1799, the
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The pictorial history of Palestine, and the Holy Land1844 · page 15Read the page →
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In the early history of Palestine there is no people, after the Hebrews, who come more frequently under our notice, and in whose proceedings we take greater interest, than the Philistines. Their importance is indicated by the simple fact that the country derived from this people the name of Palestine, which it had acquired as early as the departure of Israel from Egypt. In the notice of the Hivites it has been already shown that the Philistines were not one of the original nations of Canaan, but they obtained a settlement there by the expulsion of the Hivites. Their previous history has been a subject of much discussion, and offers a matter of curious inquiry, to which we shall not be inattentive ; but we find that a subsequent
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The pictorial history of Palestine, and the Holy Land1844 · page 308Read the page →
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After an absence of forty days they returned to the camp. The grapes, the pomegranates, and the figs, which they brought with them as specimen fruits of the promised land, must have formed a most gratifying sight to the Hebrews ; for although similar fruits were not unknown in Egypt, they are far inferior both in appearance and quality to those of Palestine. It has indeed been disputed, on the authority of some ancient writers, that Egypt afforded any vines ; and if this had been true, we should have had a still stronger illustration of the delight with which the Hebrews must have beheld and tasted the fruit of the very excellent vines of Palestine. But that the vine was known in Egypt, and the juice of the grape
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.
Timeline
Palestine, 1811 to 1966
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Palestine.
Every building
Palestine, building by building, 1910–1916
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Questions about Palestine’s history
What year was Palestine founded?
In 1811, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Palestine’s post office opened in 1818, and the census of 1880 counted 735 people here.
How does Palestine rank for history?
Palestine is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Palestine?
Three places: the Fife Opera House (listed 1990), the Palestine Commercial Historic District (1995) and the John B. Harper House (2004).
How old are the homes in Palestine?
31% of Palestine’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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