Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Shabbona Hotel. Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1880.
The Shabbona post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cornton (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Shabbona’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shabbona.
The village takes its name from Shabbona, the 19th century Potawatomi chief and peacemaker. Chief Shabbona traveled through the Fox Valley warning the white people about the approaching war Black Hawk was going to wage. He was hailed as the "Whiteman's Friend".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Shabbona, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Stevens. It is located on section 15, township of Shabbona. A village had been platted at the junction of the C. & I. and C. B. & Q. Railroads, about one-half mile west, to which was given the name of Cornton.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
individual, and was the means of inducing others to give. Truly, he is entitled to the honor of being credited as one of the founders of the village of Shabbona, as well as one of her most respected citizens. A lithographic portrait of the venerable subject of the foregoing sketch is given on the page opposite the beginning, and doubtless will be pleasurably appre-
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shabbona. 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 Shabbona.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 399 and 929 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shabbona’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Shabbona itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Shabbona’s post office has been open since 1878. Another post office, Cornton, 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).
The Shabbona post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Shabbona Hotel (listed 2021).
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 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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