Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1920.
The South Pekin post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1917.
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 South Pekin’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of South Pekin.
South Pekin was incorporated on April 12, 1917, five miles south of Pekin in an area previously known as "McFadden Flats". The village is located in Sections 27 and 34 of Cincinnati Township, which was formed in 1850. South Pekin began as a railway station on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (C&NW).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings 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 South Pekin. 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 South Pekin.
Between 944 and 1,243 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on South Pekin’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in South Pekin itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The South Pekin post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1917.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
