Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1880.
The Raymond post office opened in 1874, 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 Raymond’s history is told.
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Raymond. 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 Raymond.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Raymond yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Raymond is a village in Montgomery County, Illinois, United States. The population was 949 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,006 to 949 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Raymond, cut from the printed page as they were published.
manufacturing interests grow up around him — a source of iRurber — p. 58, of his Geschichte und kritische Studien zur Entwickelung der Oekonomischen Theorien in Amerika — says that Raymond was not free from the hatred of England so prevalent at that time in this country; and Cossa, p. 465, says, ‘‘Daniel Raymond, the first of all the spokesmen for American national and protective theories, was partly inspired to his utterance of them by animosity against England.” A careful reading of Raymond’s work scarce-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It is not too much to say that not only is the germ of List’s system to be found in Raymond, but that a very considerable development is to be found scattered through his eight hundred and odd pages.1 The theory is not developed by Raymond with anything like the elaboration and continuity that characterize List’s treatment of it. But it will be recalled that Raymond was only a political economist incidentally; a lawyer to whom the public permitted too
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereHarry Forrester is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBetween 543 and 1,006 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Raymond’s Wikipedia page.
The Raymond post office opened in 1874, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
2026