Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 4.01 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1850.
Peru Township dates its founding to 1838 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
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 Peru Township. 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 Peru Township.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1866Lumber(?) mill with "Barton" sign on top
1866Lumber(?) mill with "Barton" sign on top
1866Peru, Illinois; view of James Barton's polygon mill, …
1866Peru, Illinois; view of James Barton's polygon mill, …
1866Peru, Illinois; view of James Barton's polygon mill, …
1866View of Main Street
1866View of a brewery?Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveLumber(?) mill with "Barton" sign on top
In the archivePivot bridge over Illinois River at Peru (Iron chords and iron turning table.) 310 feet t…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePeru, Illinois (circa 1900)
In the archive1527, 1525, 1521, 1519 WATER STREET (LEFT TO RIGHT) - Town of PeruFrom Wikipedia’s history of Peru Township.
The city's first settler was John Hays, who arrived in 1830. The city was organized as a borough in 1838, incorporated as a village February 25, 1845, and incorporated as a city on March 13, 1851. The original plat was between West Street, 4th Street, and East Street (now Pine Street).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 Peru Township’s 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 1,279 and 11,772 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Peru Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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 1838, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Peru Township’s post office opened in 1848, and the census of 1850 counted 1,279 people here.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1933
1933