Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1825.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Salem’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Salem is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #161 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Salem’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 Salem’s 6.9 sits above most of its state (79% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings 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 (±4.5 points). Two sources give 1823.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Salem’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Salem, 1823 to 1988
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Salem was founded in 1823 as the county seat of the newly formed Marion County. It is situated halfway between the Indiana and Missouri borders on what was originally the Vincennes-St. Louis Road, now U.S. Highway 50.
Salem was formerly a sundown town. For decades, Salem had signs on each main road going into town telling African Americans that they were not allowed in town after sundown.
In the late 1930s, production increased in local oil fields, leading to a significant population increase in the city.
Passages that mention Salem, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Brinkerhoff's history of Marion County, Illinois1909 · page 326Read the page →
Read the text
Illinois with his family in 1861, settling at Salem. By profession he was a contractor and builder, but he was in the drug business while in Salem, and was also interested in farming, however, he did some contracting here, and in all made a success, for he was a man of much business ability. While a resident of Ohio he was for some time a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
arrived shortly after. He thus became the first pastor of the church, who served it exclusively, and took up his residence in Sycamore. In 1 88 1 the congregation was legally incorporated and changed its name from the designation Samuel to Salem Sw. Ev. Luth. church. Here the minutes record another peculiar statement. The reason for changing from Samuel to Salem is that it has become among us more customary to call a church Salem than Samuel. During Larson's time here many difficult problems found their solution. One of these problems was the
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.
By decade
Salem, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Salem’s history
What year was Salem founded?
In 1823, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Salem’s post office opened in 1825, and the census of 1870 counted 1,182 people here.
How does Salem rank for history?
Salem is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #161 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 Salem?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the William Jennings Bryan Boyhood Home (listed 1975, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Salem?
16% of Salem’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1969.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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