Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #560 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1880.
The St. Jacob Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Jacob Township is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #560 of 768 in Illinois. 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 St. Jacob 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: 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 →
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 St. Jacob Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Jacob Township.
St. Jacob derives its name from Jacob Schutz, who operated a store, saloon and tavern called the St. Jacob House. Earl E. Herrin (1892–1964), Illinois state representative and businessman, was born in St. Jacob.
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Jacob Township.
1985Carlyle Lake sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Jacob Township.
Grew from 461 people in 1880 to 1,358 in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Jacob Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in St. Jacob Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The St. Jacob Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
St. Jacob Township is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #560 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.
11% of St. Jacob Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 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.
