Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Trivoli was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1930 on and old-book passages.
The Trivoli post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Trivoli’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Trivoli yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Trivoli is a census-designated place in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, on Illinois Route 116 east of Farmington. As of the 2020 census, Trivoli had a population of 385. Trivoli has a part-time post office.
Its first post office opened in 1837.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Trivoli, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Brunnwiuk Presbyterian Church, of Trivoli Toiniship. — About the year 1833, there came from Virginia a few families of Presbyterian parentage and training by the name of Ramsay, and located in the southwest part of Trivoli township, in the timber skirting the beautiful luit then neglected and despised prairie lanti. These were after a short time followed by other friends from tlieir native .State.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
" Mrs. Harkness also furnished the following statement in regard to the first schools in Trivoli and Elmwood townships. "'The first school in Trivoli township was taught by Miss Ruth Waters, in a log cabin built by Isaac, Daniel, and James P. Harkness, my husband. In Elmwood township the first school was taught by Miss Elira Rowley, near the village of Southport.' " This is all we find in regard to the early first schools in the localities named, and was the beginning of that system, whicli, fostered and encouraged from tiiat time to the present, makes the educational advantages of Peoria county pre-eminently praiseworthy,
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Trivoli. 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 Trivoli.
Nobody well known was born in Trivoli itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Trivoli post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
