Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #124 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 959 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1880.
The Wilmette post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1872. Two smaller post offices, Gross Point (1846) and Gross Point (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wilmette is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #124 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold 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 Wilmette’s 352 sits above most of its state (98% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 969 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% 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 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wilmette. 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 Wilmette.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wilmette.
Wilmette was a forested area with high bluffs along its lakeshore. Before European settlement, members of the Potawatomi tribe lived in the area that would later become Wilmette. Native Americans were forced out of the area by treaties in the 1820s and 1830s.
The village is named in honor of Archange and Antoine Ouilmette.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wilmette, cut from the printed page as they were published.
W. It. K. up to 18«7. when he wont to what is now the village of Wilmette, ami in connection with Alexander MeDaniels and Henry A. Dingee laid out trie town of Wilmette In 1808 he engaged in the dairy business and followed it up to the fall of 18*2. In November, 1SSI. he bought out Mr. Vnllmer in the grocery business ami has carried it on ever since, taking into partnership his son George, the firm being S. V. Kline & Son. He was Assessor for seven years for the town of Evans-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Dingee, and others, laid out the present town of W dinette. They built and carried on t he first pickle manufactory in Cook County at Wilmette. In 1870 the copartnership between him and Mr. Dingee was dissolved, since which time Mr. Westerfield has been engaged in civil engineering. He has been largely interested in the improvement of Wilmette for years, and was the first Minor of the town, ne has l>een school trustee and has held all the minor offices of that town, and is now both
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Should the present intention of the citizens of Wilmette and of the Sanitary District of Chicago to create and maintain a public park at this place on the lake front, built by spoil excavated from the Drainage Canal now in progress of construction, be carried out, it is respectfully suggested that the Evanston Historical Society or the citizens of Wilmette, or both, erect at, or near the foot of Lake Avenue, on the former site of the cabin, a suitable monument bear-
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.
In the archiveChicago Tribune Nov 5 1893 front pageBuiltGross Point Village Hall is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHouse, Wilmette, Illinois, early 20th century (NBY 685)
In the archiveVan Ornum Colorprint Co. 657 - Midwinter in California, Old Baldy from the Orange Groves …
In the archiveDETAIL OF BAY WINDOW ON EAST SIDE - Roemer House, 2739 Old Glenview Road
Born hereBeck Bennett is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1893Chicago Tribune Nov 5 1893 front page1900House, Wilmette, Illinois, early 20th century (NBY 68…
1900Town Hall, Wilmette, Illinois, early 20th century (NB…1910sVan Ornum Colorprint Co. 657 - Midwinter in Californi…1933DETAIL OF BAY WINDOW ON EAST SIDE - Roemer House, 273…
1933DETAIL OF EAST SIDE, SOUTH WING - Roemer House, 2739 …
1933DETAIL OF FRONT DOOR AND PORCH BRACKET, NORTH FRONT -…
1933DETAIL OF WEST SIDE, SOUTH WING SHOWING SUMMER KITCHE…
1933PORCH BRACKET - Roemer House, 2739 Old Glenview Road
1933PORCH DETAIL - Roemer House, 2739 Old Glenview Road
1933SIDE DOOR, IN REAR EAST-WEST WING AND WEST SIDE - Roe…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 Wilmette’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 419 and 32,134 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wilmette’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Wilmette’s post office has been open since 1870. Two other post offices 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Wilmette post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1872.
Wilmette is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #124 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.
14 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Frank J. Baker House (listed 1974, the first), and 4 historic districts with 959 contributing buildings. 969 historic buildings in all.
29% of Wilmette’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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 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.
