Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1870.
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 West Township’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,047 in 1880; 444 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Township’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of West Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
West Township is one of fifteen townships in Effingham County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 444 and it contained 181 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 467 to 444 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention West Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
West Township possesses little of historical interest beyond its settlement and occupation by white people. There is not a town — except Gillmore Station, which can scarcely be called a town — in the township; there is not a mill, and never has been, save a saw-mill or two; nor is there a church building. This leaves but little to say, beyond the fact that
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tled first in Kane and afterward De Kalb County, where he engaged in farming. In 1858, he first came to Effingham County, and settled in West Township, where he engaged in farming, and continued the same until 1874, when he was appointed station agent of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad at Gillmore. In 1879, he opened a store at Gillmore and was appointed
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Township.
1985Loogootee sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of West Township.
Another post office, Gilmore, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
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.
