Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns · #429 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Poplar Grove was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 1880.
The Poplar Grove post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Poplar Grove is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #429 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Poplar Grove’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Poplar Grove’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Poplar Grove. 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 Poplar Grove.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRay Collins is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Poplar Grove.
Poplar Grove was named in 1845 for a grove of poplar trees near the original town site. A post office called Poplar Grove has been in operation since 1848.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Grew from 163 people in 1880 to 5,049 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Poplar Grove’s Wikipedia page.
Poplar Grove’s post office has been open since 1848.
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 Poplar Grove post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Poplar Grove is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #429 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.
7% of Poplar Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 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 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) 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.
