Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1927 on and old-book passages.
The Prairietown post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Prairietown’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Prairietown yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Prairietown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Madison County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 153. It is part of the Metro East region of Greater St. Louis.
Its first post office opened in 1864.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Prairietown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Much of the railroad business of the flour¬ ishing village of Prairietown is done through Dorsey, it being the closest shipping point. In former years H. L. Koenemann was the lead¬ ing merchant of this place.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Prairietown. 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 Prairietown.
Nobody well known was born in Prairietown itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Prairietown post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
