History · Sesser

Sesser’s post office opened in 1906, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Sesser Opera House. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1966 on and old-book passages.

1906first post office

1on the National Register

30%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Sesser’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Sesser began

When was Sesser founded?

1906

The Sesser post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,888120 years

How historic is Sesser?

B⁻

More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Sesser post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Sesser’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sesser is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sesser’s overall grade.

Founding era1906, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsD Homes built before 194029.7% of homes (±9.0) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%A⁻National Register1 listing, 4.9 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4B

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 55%

NewerOlder

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 Sesser’s 4.9 sits above most of its state (75% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.0 points). 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 Sesser’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Sesser’s homes were built before 1954.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sesser’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sesser’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewUntitled photo: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Sesser came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sesser.

Read it all →

In summer 1904, when coal was discovered at today's Sesser, the area was a prairie covered with wheat and corn fields. By 1906, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad had extended its lines south from Centralia to Sesser, and the new town was named after railroad surveyor John Sesser.

The first mine in Sesser, the Keller Mine, was sunk in 1905–1906.

In 1906, Sesser was incorporated as a village. It re-incorporated as a city in 1909.

Old Ben Coal Mine No. 16, also called Sesser Mine, operated from 1905 to 1923.

Subsidence resulting from longwall mining at the Old Ben No. 21 mine, by Old Ben Coal Company, was a concern for some local homeowners in the 1980s. The No. 21 mine, opened in 1952, was idled in 1991.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Sesser, 1918–1920

Passages that mention Sesser, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Sesser — -Historical and Biographical C. R. SLADE, Mayor— Elected to fill vacancy, for the term 1919 to 1921 ; came to Sesser from Woodlawn, Jefferson county; employed on railroad as telegraph operator and agent until 1912 when he came to Sesser; since coming to Sesser has been employed principally… — **Franklin County, Illinois, war history, 1832-1919**1920 · page 379Read the page →
Read the text
Sesser — -Historical and Biographical C. R. SLADE, Mayor— Elected to fill vacancy, for the term 1919 to 1921 ; came to Sesser from Woodlawn, Jefferson county; employed on railroad as telegraph operator and agent until 1912 when he came to Sesser; since coming to Sesser has been employed principally in mines; a popular union worker
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**Franklin County, Illinois, war history, 1832-1919**1920 · page 384Read the page →
Read the text
life and continued this profession for thirteen years. Deciding to quit the profession for a business life, he located in Sesser in July, 1910, and became manager of the Sesser Supply Company and continued in this capacity for two years. In 1919 he opened
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**Franklin County history**1918 · page 75Read the page →
Read the text
The C. B. & 0. railroad runs through the township and on this railroad is located a very progressive city, called Sesser. Sesser is a city of about 3,000, and was started when the C. B. & O was built. Sesser has two mines near it, which is the greatest cause of the city’s rapid growth.
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

Sesser, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s1 item

c. 1966Untitled photo

1970s–1990snothing yet

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.

Add from your album

Today3 recent

2013Sesser Opera House 2013-04-23 20-50-35

2013Franklin east of Broadway in

2013Broadway at Franklin in

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewUntitled photo, c. 1966

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sesser’s page.

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

1 historic place in Sesser

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1982

Sesser Opera House

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Mission Style1

Sesser Opera HouseMission Style

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Goode Township1 historic placeA⁻Barren TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sesser’s history

What year was Sesser founded?

The Sesser post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Sesser rank for history?

Sesser is more historic than 55% 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.

What is on the National Register in Sesser?

One place: the Sesser Opera House (listed 1982).

How old are the homes in Sesser?

30% of Sesser’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1954.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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