Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1925 on and old-book passages.
Pawnee Township dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1858.
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 Pawnee Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pawnee Township.
On October 13, 1902, the Victor Mine exploded killing six workers. Press reports indicate an explosive charge ignited coal dust in the shaft.
On August 6, 2023, a large and long-tracked EF2 tornado hit north of Pawnee, Illinois destroying houses and businesses.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pawnee Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
HOWARD, Patrick.—Ameong the most prominent of the early pioneers of Pawnee Township, Sangamon County, Patrick Howard deserves a place, being one of the oldest in point of age, as well as the length of his residence there. He began life in the county as a farm hand, later rented land, and: finally purchased a quarter section in Pawnee Township, which was the
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.
In the archive601 Washington Street Pawnee ILOne 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 Pawnee Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Another post office, Zenobia, 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.
In 1854, according to Wikidata. Pawnee Township’s post office opened in 1858.
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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.
2026