Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1821.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives West Frankfort’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, West Frankfort is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #154 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of West Frankfort’s overall grade.
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 West Frankfort’s 1.4 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1810.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points).
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 →
What stands out about West Frankfort’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 14,683 in 1930; 7,275 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Frankfort’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
West Frankfort on the map, 1909 to 1978
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Frankfort. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1909West Frankfort 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 West Frankfort.
Although one might associate the name "West Frankfort" with the city "Frankfurt" in Germany, or Frankfort in Kentucky, the truth is far more local. Around 1810, early Tennessee settler Francis ("Frank") Jordan and his seven brothers began the construction of a fort atop a hill in present-day Franklin County. Completed in 1811, the fort was named "Frank's Fort," in Jordan's honor.
Frank's Fort was built in today's Williamson County, Ill., near Corinth. A few miles to the east, Francis' brother, Thomas Jordan, built "Jordan's Fort" in Cave Township, Franklin County, Ill., near the town of Thompsonville.
Passages that mention West Frankfort, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Franklin County, Illinois, war history, 1832-19191920 · page 349Read the page →
Read the text
Opdyke s Bakery WHEN West Frankfort was a small village with only a few frame buildings as the foundation for a wonderful booming city, there came from Evansville, Indiana, in 1905, Frank Opdyke, who established a bakery and made the first loaf of bread in West Frankfort. The rapid growth of West
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Franklin County, Illinois, war history, 1832-19191920 · page 346Read the page →
Read the text
two stores were incorporated for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars under the corporate name of the Zwick Mercantile Company of West Frankfort, the names included in the original incorporation were Mr. Zwick, Harry Lowenthal and Lewis Scheur, the latter has since resigned from the business, and Mr. Lowenthal as manager
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
West Frankfort, 1810 to 1938
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
West Frankfort’s post office has been open since 1904. Another post office, Frankfort, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Frankfort
1821–1904
West Frankfort
1904–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Frankfort
Gone or out of use
Logan Public SchoolschoolWest Frankfort South Oil Fieldoilfield
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside West Frankfort
HanesOddfellowTrinity
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about West Frankfort’s history
What year was West Frankfort founded?
In 1810, according to Wikidata. West Frankfort’s post office opened in 1821, and the census of 1910 counted 2,111 people here.
How does West Frankfort rank for history?
West Frankfort is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #154 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.
What is on the National Register in West Frankfort?
One place: the West Frankfort City Hall (listed 2002).
How old are the homes in West Frankfort?
26% of West Frankfort’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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