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History · Trout Valley

Trout Valley dates to 1996

Most of Trout Valley was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Below: maps from 1925 on and the census since 2000.

1996founded
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Trout Valley began

When was Trout Valley founded?

1996

Trout Valley dates its founding to 1996 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 2000.

First census: 599 in 20002020 census: 51530 years
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year.The full story ↓

What stands out about Trout Valley’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Trout Valley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19256 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1992. Watch Trout Valley change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Trout Valley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Trout Valley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Trout Valley on the map, 1925 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Trout Valley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Trout Valley on the 1925 USGS mapTrout Valley on the 1940 USGS mapTrout Valley on the 1962 USGS mapTrout Valley on the 1972 USGS mapTrout Valley on the 1980 USGS mapTrout Valley on the 1992 USGS map1925Elgin sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Trout Valley.

The story

How Trout Valley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Trout Valley.

Read it all →

Maxon Community Developers of Barrington, Illinois, founders and developers of nearby Streamwood, Barrington Woods, Brigadoon, and later Green Valley, Arizona purchased the Curtiss Candy Farms in 1952 from Otto Schnering, founder of the Curtiss Candy Company. The brothers Norm and Don Maxon promptly renamed it Trout Valley after Norman's passion for fly fishing.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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People over time

Trout Valley, census by census

010020030040050060020002020Peak: 599

Between 515 and 599 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Trout Valley’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

CaryIts storyC+

Questions about Trout Valley’s history

What year was Trout Valley founded?

In 1996, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 2000 counted 599 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 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.