Founding year: the first Stockton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1886.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Stockton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stockton is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Stockton’s overall grade.
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 Stockton’s 5.3 sits above most of its state (76% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1886 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 →
What stands out about Stockton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The village of Stockton is the youngest village in Jo Daviess County. It was established after the Minnesota Northwestern Railroad decided to build a station in Section 2 of Stockton Township in 1886, which through mergers later became named the Chicago Great Western Railway. The railroad tracks were removed in the early 1970s.
What is now Front Street in Stockton was then a dirt road which served as the main thoroughfare to Lena.
In April 1887, Charles Hermann became Stockton's first business owner.
In 1914, the Kraft Brothers opened a cheese factory in Stockton, and operated it until Kraft sold the facility in 1998. This was the birthplace of the Kraft Corporation and the first cheese plant opened by J.L. Kraft.
Passages that mention Stockton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion ... history of the Northwest, history of Illinois ... Con1878 · page 600Read the page →
Read the text
while Miles is now living in Morseville, Stockton Township ; H. A. Perry, who came in June, 1839, and is now a farmer of Stockton ; Samuel Tyrrell, Sr., who came in October, 1841, with his family of four daughters and a son, of whom Mrs. Benjamin Parker, of Stockton, is the only daughter now residing in the county; Mr. Samuel Tyrrell, Sr., died in 1845; Hiram Tyrrell, who came in May, 1843, and now lives in Iowa. There are many other early settlers of the township, equally worthy of mention, many of whose biographies appear in another portion of this work.
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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Old corners
Stockton’s post office has been open since 1853.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Country Air Mobile Home EstatesJ and J Mobile Home Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Stockton’s history
What year was Stockton founded?
The Stockton post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1886.
How does Stockton rank for history?
Stockton is more historic than 71% 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.
What is on the National Register in Stockton?
One place: the W.E. White Building (listed 1997).
How old are the homes in Stockton?
32% of Stockton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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