Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
Teutopolis dates its founding to 1839 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1842.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Teutopolis is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its age 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 Teutopolis’ 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: 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Teutopolis’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereAdam Niemerg is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Teutopolis.
Teutopolis, "City of the Teutons", or Germans, was established in 1839 along the National Road, now U.S. Route 40. It is the only town in the United States with this name.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Teutopolis, cut from the printed page as they were published.
think you, in their warmest fancies, ever prolong the vision to this day, and in the emigration foresee the present flourishing town of Teutopolis, with its happ3' population, its magnificent manufactories, its stupendous church, college, convent, its many houses, from its grand mansions to its many neat and tasty cottages, and all surrounded by elegant farms
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He left Cincinnati, Ohio, May 5, 1852, and arrived at Teutopolis, 111., May 15, coming in wagons. The village of Teutopolis had then about ten houses, and Effingham was not laid out, having only two log cabins on the National road. Our subject was educated in the public schools at Teutopolis and Cincinnati, Ohio, and at St. Louis University, in
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1839, according to Wikidata. Teutopolis’ post office opened in 1842.
Teutopolis is more historic than 56% 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.
14% of Teutopolis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (2), 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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