Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1947 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ross Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Ross Township’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.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
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 Ross Township’s history is told.
Three other post offices 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ross Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ross Township is one of fifteen townships in Edgar County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,509 and it contained 653 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,594 to 1,509 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Ross Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Inquiries relating to the first schools and churches in Young America Township, omitting that part now included in Ross Township, develop the fact that the first schoolhouse was erected here in 1861. Some assert this date as incorrect, placing the first one, the “ Old Green Schoolhouse ” as early as 1854 or 1855.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Inquiries relating to the first schools and churches in Young America Town¬ ship, omitting that part now included in Ross Township, develop the fact that the first schoolhouse was erected here in 1861. Some assert this date as incorrect, placing the first one, the “ Old Green Schoolhouse ” as early as 1854 or 1855.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Inquiries relating to the first schools and churches in Young America Town¬ ship, omitting that part now included in Ross Township, develop the fact that the first schoolhouse was erected here in 1861. Some assert this date as incorrect, placing the first one, the “ Old Green Schoolhouse ” as early as 1854 or 1855.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On the west side of the north branch of Brouillett’s Creek, the first permanent settlement was made in 1825, by William Trimble, from Kentucky. He settled in the east part of what is now known as Ross Township, near the Prairie Township line. This was two years after the county was organized, and about eight years after the first settlement was made in the county. Five or six years before, Capt. Truman Blackman, Lambert Bona, Remember Blackman, Peter Allen, George Beckwith, Seymour Treat and Francis Whitcomb
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ross Township. 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 Ross Township.
Nobody well known was born in Ross Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Ross Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. 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.
32% of Ross Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1956.
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).
From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
