Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #367 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 14 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
The Plano post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1872.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Plano is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #367 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Plano’s 4.1 sits above most of its state (73% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% 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.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1980Fall at the Farnsworth House
1980Farnsworth House
1980Farnsworth House
1980Farnsworth House
1980Farnsworth House
1980Fall at the Farnsworth House
1980Fall at the Farnsworth House
1980Architect Mies van der Rohe's iconic Farnsworth House
1980View of architect Mies van der Rohe's classic moderni…
1980View of architect Mies van der Rohe's classic moderni…
1980View of architect Mies van der Rohe's classic moderni…The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Plano.
In the early 1860s, the Marsh brothers began producing their Marsh Harvester in Plano. From 1863 to the beginning of the twentieth century the Plano Manufacturing Company, as it became known, provided the foundation for Plano's development. Because of this, Plano High School has adopted the reaper as its mascot.
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.
In the archiveAtlas of Kendall Co. and the state of Illinois - to which is added an atlas of the United…
Born hereFrederick M. Smith is born here
Born hereMabel Cook Cole is born hereBuiltAlbert H. Sears House is built
Born hereArthur E. Andersen is born here
In the archivePlano, International Harvester Co., Chicago, IllBuiltChicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Depot is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveFall at the Farnsworth House
Born hereCole Bennett is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Plano. 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 Plano.
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 Plano’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,782 people in 1880 to 11,847 in 2020, 6 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Plano’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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.
The Plano post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1872.
Plano is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #367 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.
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Albert H. Sears House (listed 1987, the first).
10% of Plano’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (11), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1907
