Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: the census since 1910.
The Stoy post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1906.
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 Stoy’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Stoy yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Stoy is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 108 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1889. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 104 to 108 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 104 and 488 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Stoy’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Stoy itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Stoy post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1906.
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 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.
