The River Grove post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rhodes (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 287 in 18902020 census: 10,612137 years
How historic is River Grove?
B
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first River Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives River Grove’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, River Grove is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #347 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of River Grove’s overall grade.
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 River Grove’s 1.9 sits above most of its state (66% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about River Grove’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Just as nearby Elmwood Park and Oak Park are named after their historic elm and oak trees, River Grove gets its two-part name first from the community's shallow, muddy Des Plaines River, and second from the majestic groves of American ash trees lining shore of the river's "bottomland." Credit goes to the village's early German and Nordic settlers who, already holding a great reverence for the "mystic ash" through old world traditions, felt that they were home again among the familiar groves of ash trees, "just like the ones they left behind." Up until the modern day extinction event of the American ash tree species 2006–2018, River Grove was the home to Cook County's second-oldest green ash with an estimated age of 240 in the "old growth" Lafrombose Woods, along with several other living examples of locally evolved white, green, black and blue ash types 110–160 years of age scattered a…
The River Grove post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does River Grove rank for history?
River Grove is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #347 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.
What is on the National Register in River Grove?
One place: the Dorhmann-Buckman House (listed 1995).
How old are the homes in River Grove?
17% of River 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 1963.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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