Founding year: the first Riverside Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1875.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Riverside Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Riverside Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #187 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Riverside Township’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 Riverside Township’s 3.1 sits above most of its state (71% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1875 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Riverside Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Riverside Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1891Riverside sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Riverside Township.
Riverside is arguably the first planned suburb (as opposed to a stand-alone community) in the United States, designed in 1869 by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted. The village was incorporated in 1875. The Riverside Landscape Architecture District, an area bounded by 26th Street, Harlem and Ogden avenues, the Des Plaines River, and Golf Road, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
3
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Riverside Township in 1884
Passages that mention Riverside Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cook County, Illinois. From the earliest period to the present time1884 · page 875Read the page →
Read the text
Riverside Township comprises bnt fcur sections, namely, Noa 25, SB, 35 and 86, situated in thesouthcast corner of the town of Proviso. Nearly thrccfourths of this territory is embraced in the vi Hugo of Riverside, also incorporated, and therefore under the control of its legislative board of officers.
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.
Timeline
Riverside Township, 1891 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Riverside Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1875.
How does Riverside Township rank for history?
Riverside Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #187 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.
How old are the homes in Riverside Township?
43% of Riverside Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1945.
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 (16), the Library of Congress (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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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