Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1937 on.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shoal Creek Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Shoal Creek 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.
Four other post offices 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shoal Creek Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Shoal Creek Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Shoal Creek Township is one of nine townships in Bond County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,610 and it contained 741 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,783 to 1,610 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shoal Creek 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 Shoal Creek Township.
Nobody well known was born in Shoal Creek Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Shoal Creek Township is more historic than 68% 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.
43% of Shoal Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1959.
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, 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.
