The story
Read it all →How Tuscola came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Tuscola.
The city of Tuscola's name came from an unknown Native American tribe's word for "flat plain."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Tuscola
Tuscola’s post office opened in 1857, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns · #424 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1880.
1857first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
9famous people
Quick answers
How Tuscola began
When was Tuscola founded?
1857
The Tuscola post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1868.
First census: 1,457 in 18802020 census: 4,636169 years
How historic is Tuscola?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Tuscola post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1868.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Tuscola’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tuscola is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #424 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Tuscola’s overall grade.
Founding era1857, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194026.5% of homes (±7.4) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 47%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 45%
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 Tuscola’s 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1868 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 Tuscola’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Every building
Tuscola, building by building, 1887–1914
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1887Sheet 2 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Tuscola’s post office has been open since 1857.
Hamlets and corners on the map
MeadowviewNorthgateParkviewSouthland AcresYoder Addition
Gone or out of use
Jarman Memorial Hospitalhospital
1cemetery inside Tuscola
Tuscola Township
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Tuscola in 1876
Passages that mention Tuscola, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Douglas county, Illinois1876 · page 41Read the page →
Read the text
Tuscola, the county seat, is situated in section 34, township 16, north, of range S east, of the third Principal Meridian. The original town was laid out by a company, who also instituted the city of Newman at the same time, in 1857, an<^ tne projectors of the enterprise predicted that a new county wculd be soon formed, that the east and west railroad would be built, and that Tuscola would be l he county seat of the new county. The new county was made in two years, Tuscola became the county seat about the same time, and the railroad
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Douglas county, Illinois1876Read the page →
Read the text
H. B. Evans was elected Assessor and Treasurer in 1865 and re-elected in 1S67; as Assistant U. S. Marshal in 1870 he procured the Douglas county data for the 9th Census, and has been Post Master of Tuscola for a number of years. The first meeting, under Township organization, of the Board of Supervisors, was held in Tuscola, on Monday, May 11, 1S6S, and the Supervisors were : Caleb Garrett, of Garrett.
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.
Timeline
Tuscola, 1857 to 1985
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1857Post officeThe Tuscola post office opens
- 1865
Born hereHelen Bertram is born here - 1873
Born hereT. Gilbert Pearson is born here - 1895Born hereGertrude Sawyer is born here
- 1895
Born hereFred Ernst Busbey is born here - 1898
In the archivePomological Watercolor POM00001657 - 20th century
- 1938
In the archiveErvin Park (NBY 636) - 1950
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1963
In the archiveEdgar Myron Louton in The Flint Journal of Flint, Michigan on July 22, 1963 - 1985
In the archiveBaltimore & Ohio B&O 4030 & 4017 (both GP40)
By decade
Tuscola, decade by decade
4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1890s1 item
1900s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album1930s–1960s7 items
1938Ervin Park (NBY 636)
1938Sale Street Looking West (NBY 6453)
1938South Ward Grade School (NBY 2768)
1938Tuscola Community High School (NBY 238)1963Edgar Myron Louton in The Flint Journal of Flint, Mic…Document
1963Edgar Myron Louton circa 1960
1966Illinois Central 1234 (SW9) crossing B&O - C&EI cross…1980s3 items
1985
19851990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
2014
2014
2013On the map
Tuscola on the map, 1950 to 1999
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tuscola. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1950Tuscola sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Tuscola.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewPomological Watercolor POM00001657, 1898
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Tuscola’s page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Tuscola, census by census
Grew from 1,457 people in 1880 to 4,636 in 2020, 3 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tuscola’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →9 famous people were born in Tuscola
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
G
Gertrude SawyerAmerican architect · b. 1895
B
Bradford BrintonAmerican machinery manufacturer · b. 1880Help out
Finish Tuscola’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Questions about Tuscola’s history
What year was Tuscola founded?
The Tuscola post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1868.
How does Tuscola rank for history?
Tuscola is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #424 of 768 in Illinois. 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.
How old are the homes in Tuscola?
27% of Tuscola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1960.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (14), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.