Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #427 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Ardmore Avenue Train Station and the Villa Avenue Train Station. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1920.
Villa Park dates its founding to 1914 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1920.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Villa Park is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #427 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls 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 Villa Park’s 0.9 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Villa Park’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Villa Park.
Following the construction of two residential subdivisions—Villa Park (1908) and Ardmore (1910) by the real estate firm Ballard & Pottinger—the community incorporated as the Village of Ardmore in 1914. The name was changed to Villa Park in 1917.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltArdmore Avenue Train Station is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBobby Wawak is born here
In the archiveCGW 9 (S2) switching cars on spurs in Villa Park, IL on December 28, 1962One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2024Target (Villa Park, Illinois) 1
2024Burlington Coat Factory (Villa Park, Illinois) 1
2023IPP Main Stem at IL 83 (3) - Villa Park, IL - July 20…
2023IPP Main Stem at IL 83 (2) - Villa Park, IL - July 20…
2023IPP Main Stem at IL 83 (1) - Villa Park, IL - July 20…
2022Deb Conroy with Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi
2022Deb Conroy Headshot
2015The former CGW depot in Villa Park, IL is now used by…
2010VillaPark UP-W
2006US-IL-Chicagoland-Villa Park
2003OdeumExpoCenterEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Villa Park. 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 Villa Park.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Villa Park’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 854 and 25,891 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Villa Park’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Villa Park’s post office has been open since 1917.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1914, according to Wikidata. Villa Park’s post office opened in 1917, and the census of 1920 counted 854 people here.
Villa Park is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #427 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.
Two places: the Ardmore Avenue Train Station (listed 1980) and the Villa Avenue Train Station (1986).
20% of Villa Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (12), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) 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.
