Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Ruma was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1900.
The Ruma post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Ruma’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1900 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ruma’s Wikipedia page.
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 SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ruma yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ruma is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Ruma had a population of 313.
Its first post office opened in 1849. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 317 in 2010, 313 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ruma.
1970Red Bud sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ruma.
Ruma had its own post office from 1849 to 1911.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Ruma post office opened in 1849, 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 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.