Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #51 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 62 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1907 on, and the census since 1840.
Springfield Township dates its founding to 1821 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Springfield Township is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #51 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Springfield Township’s 118 sits above most of its state (94% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 65 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Springfield 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 Springfield Township.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveAbraham Lincoln Springfield departure February 1861
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Springfield Township.
Settlers originally named this community "Calhoun", after Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, expressing their cultural ties. The land that Springfield now occupies was visited first by trappers and fur traders who came to the Sangamon River in 1818.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1861Abraham Lincoln Springfield departure February 1861
1861President Abraham Lincoln's home
1865Parlor, Abraham Lincoln home
1865Bedroom, Abraham Lincoln home
1865Room interior in Abraham Lincoln's home
1865Two soldiers keep watch over Lincoln's casket
1865Illinois statehouse
1865President Abraham Lincoln's tomb, Oak Ridge
1865Lincoln's coffin on view at State HouseNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Springfield Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 2,579 and 116,250 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Springfield Township’s Wikipedia page.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1821, according to Wikidata. the census of 1840 counted 2,579 people here.
Springfield Township is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #51 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.
5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Camp Lincoln Commissary Building (listed 1984, the first), and 1 historic district, the Illinois State Fairgrounds, with 62 contributing buildings. 65 historic buildings in all.
22% of Springfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
