Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1900.
The Ridott post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ridotts (1848), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Ridott’s history is told.
Peaked at 244 in 1970; 124 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ridott’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ridott.
Originally called Cochranville, Ridott was renamed in 1863 after Ridott Township. A post office was established as Cochranville in 1860, and renamed Ridott in 1861.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ridott, cut from the printed page as they were published.
For many years the village pursued the even tenor of its course, quite like the ordinary country village. But about ten years ago a change was effected, when the Rockford and Freeport line came through Ridott and erected its station there. The increased facilities for transportation have been taken advantage of by the people of Ridott to such an extent that they do practically all of their shopping at Freeport, and now consider themselves as suburban dwellers of the county seat. The village has grown a great deal since the advent of the electric line, and numbers a population of about four hundred inhabitants.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At that time, J. S. Cochran and brother, of Freeport, purchased 60 acres of land upon part of which the village of Ridott now stands. It seems that prior to the purchase of the town site, the Cochrans had concluded a contract with the railroad company, by the terms of which the former were to grade the side tracks, plat and lay out the town, in consideration of the company's removing the station to the point now occupied. Accordingly, the side tracks, etc., were completed, thirty acres of land were surveyed and platted into lots 30x120, and on the 10th day of July, 1860, the station was removed. Immediately thereafter,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ville, and built the postoffice, the first building erected in the village. The first store was soon after built by the Cochran Brothers, and named the "Farmer's Store." About the same time, Oscar H. Osborn built a house near the track which he adapted to residence and saloon purposes. Ridott has never been a "dry town" since that date. In 1861, Samuel Irvin built his shoe shop on Adams street, James Clark his residence, on the same street, W. E. Moorhouse a house on Jefferson street, and these constituted the village until the close of the Civil war. A few buildings were erected in the vicinity, but the period was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the township of Ridott, the Galena is the underlying stone, changing into the blue toward the eastern and southeastern part. In the township of Oneco the formation is heavily developed. In short, the outcrop of this well-known formation, or division of the Trenton rocks, are so numerous that it is not necessary to particularize more fully than to briefly state their superficial boundaries and area.
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.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Illinois - Stephenson County - ED 89-37, …
Born hereBoyd Henry Bode is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ridott. 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 Ridott.
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 Ridott’s page.
Retake this view · +15Ridott’s post office has been open since 1861. Another post office, Ridotts, 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 Ridott post office opened in 1861, 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 (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 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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