Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
The Prophetstown post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Prophets Town (1835), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Prophetstown is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Prophetstown’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 Prophetstown’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Prophetstown.
An 1825 treaty established an unnamed "Winnebago village" about 40 miles above the mouth of the Rock River as a boundary point of the Winnebago, corresponding to the location of Prophetstown.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Prophetstown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
rapids above Rock Falls, and continued at that work for six months, aud then returned to New York State, having previously, however, made a elaim in what is now the township of Hume. In the fall of 1840 he came back to Whiteside, and lived for three years in Hume, and then moved to Prophetstown where he has sinee resided. Since his last return to Whiteside he has been constantly engaged in farming, and in 1853 and 1854 was also engaged in mercantile business in the village of Prophetstown. For quite a number of years past he has manufactured cheese to a considerable extent, and has a splendid dairy farm near
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and doing all the work. It required, however, a cash subscription of $40,000 to purchase the old franchise, and for incidental expenses, which was obtained, and the building of the road immediately commenced, and on the 8th day of March, 1871, the first train of cars entered the village of Prophetstown. The next year it was continued to the Mississippi river near Fulton, where it was expected it would cross on the bridge used by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, but the latter obtained a permanent injunction forbidding them, and the end of that branch of the line remains on the east side of the river. Thus after nearly twenty years
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and doing all the work. It required, however, a cash subscription of $40,000 to purchase the old franchise, and for incidental expenses, which was obtained, and the building of the road immediately commenced, and on the 8th day of March, 1871, the first train of cars entered the village of Prophetstown. The next year it was continued to the Mississippi river near Fulton, where it was expected it would eross on the bridge used by the Chieago & Northwestern Railway, but the latter obtained a permanent injunction forbidding them, and the end of that branch of the line remains on the east side of the river. Thus after nearly twenty years
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Prophetstown’s post office has been open since 1844. Another post office, Prophets Town, 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).
The Prophetstown post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Prophetstown is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. 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.
34% of Prophetstown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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