Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #694 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Volo was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2010. Below: maps from 1920 on and the census since 1880.
The Volo post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1993.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Volo is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #694 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Volo’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.
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 →
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 Volo’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Volo. 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 Volo.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Volo yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Volo is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was incorporated as a village on April 26, 1993. Per the 2020 census, the population was 6,122.
Its first post office opened in 1868. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,929 to 6,122 (+109%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Volo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Slocum, who was likewise an early settler in that vicinity. The lands were originally mostly woodlands and oak openings. It has, however, a small prairie, formerly known to some extent as Rice's Prairie, lying immediately south of the village of Volo, containing an area of about 600 acres. From the abundant supply, of timber in this township, it has become quite thickly settled, the population being made up of an intelligent and industrious class of farmers. It has two very flourishing villages — Wauconda and Yolo.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Grew from 126 people in 1880 to 6,122 in 2020, more than tenfold.
4 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Volo’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Volo itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Volo had its own post office from 1868 to 1904.
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.
The Volo post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1993.
Volo is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #694 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.
0.5% of Volo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 2010.
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 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 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.
