Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #680 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Saratoga Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Saratoga Township is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #680 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Saratoga 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 Saratoga Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Saratoga 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 Saratoga Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Saratoga Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Saratoga Township (T34N R7E) is one of seventeen townships in Grundy County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,342 and it contained 2,681 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 6,122 to 6,342 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Saratoga Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
ruary H of that year came to the United and attended the Normal school at Morris, en- States, landing at Morris. For some years he gaged in teaching school for eight years, mined, and then in February, 1S75, he bought After his marriage, Mr. Blair rented a farm twenty acres of land in Saratoga Township, in Saratoga Township, which he conducted unto which he later added ten acres more. He til 1S91, and at that time purchased a tract sunk a shaft and kept on opening up shafts ol forty-two acres of improved land, on which until he had lour of them in operation, and was lie has since made many more improvements actively engaged in this manner until 1S99, which have greatly enhanced the property's
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He then rented the farm of William McKinley, in Saratoga Township, where he spent four years, then going to Kansas lor one year, and subsequently returning to Saratoga Township.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 4,506 and 6,342 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Saratoga Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Saratoga Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Saratoga Township is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #680 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.
4% of Saratoga Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1997.
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, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
