More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #544 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Roscoe was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 1970.
The Roscoe post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Roscoe Station (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,070 in 19702020 census: 10,983189 years
How historic is Roscoe?
C
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Roscoe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Roscoe’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Roscoe is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #544 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Roscoe’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 Roscoe’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. 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 Roscoe’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Though settled in the 1830s, Roscoe was incorporated as a village in 1965. The village was named after Roscoe Township. Harlem-Roscoe Fire Department Station Three, located at 13974 Willowbrook Rd, was hit by an EF-1 tornado on May 22, 2011. Path length was 1 mile long and 50 yards wide, no injuries were reported. In 1837, the village of Highlander was renamed Roscoe, highlighting a rocky river ford across the Rock River in the village. In the same year, Roscoe established its first post office, with Daniel Shaw Haight as the first postmaster. In 1840, the first weekly newspaper began circulation. In 1847, Roscoe Female Seminary – today Rockford University – was founded. On January 3, 1852, Roscoe was officially chartered as a city; a year later the long-running "Forest City" nickname first appeared, used by the New York Tribune. Also in 1852, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad co…
Passages that mention Roscoe, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Winnebago County, Illinois1877 · page 449Read the page →
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Village of Roscoe. — The history of the village of Roscoe is so closely interwoven that an attempted separate history would be a work of supererogation, all the pertinent and important events being recited above.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Winnebago County, Illinois1877 · page 447Read the page →
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Roscoe is the northeast township of the county, bounded on the north by the Wisconsin State line. The first permanent settlement was made in the fall of 1835, but some Indian traders had previously erected and occupied cabins in the grove on Section 32. The remains of the cabins and the track made by the wagon train that accompanied General Atkins in his campaign against the Black Hawk Indians in June, 1832, were still clearly defined when the first settlers came. The maple trees also showed that the Indians had tapped them for sugarmaking purposes. August 3, 1835, R.
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The history of Rockton, Winnebago County, Illinois, 1820 to 18981898 · page 124Read the page →
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In 1854, the services at Roscoe were discontinued for lack of suitable accommodations. The first place mentioned in the records in which the Rockton services were held, was in the Red School House, now used by C. M. Crawford as a paint shop.
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.
The Roscoe post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Roscoe rank for history?
Roscoe is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #544 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 Roscoe?
1% of Roscoe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (6), 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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