Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #415 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Winfield Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listings are the Himmelfarb, Samuel and Eleanor House and Studio. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1880.
The Winfield Township post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1921. Two smaller post offices, Big Woods (1848) and Warrenhurst (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Winfield Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #415 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 Winfield Township’s 0.9 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Winfield Township’s history is told.
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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Winfield Township. 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 Winfield Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Winfield Township.
Winfield originally tried to become an incorporated village in 1884 under the town name 'Frederick Park'. However, the motion was denied as the town did not have 300 residents as was required for incorporation. When the village was finally incorporated in 1921, the town had a population of 310 people.
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.
2016Winfield
2016Winfield
2016Hedges Station
2015Winfield IL Train Station
2015Winfield IL Prairie Path Elgin Branch
2015Winfield IL Klein Creek
2015Winfield IL Central Dupage Hospital
2015Winfield IL Business District
2014Winfield.StJohnBaptistRC.1906Schaefer.Powers02
2012Winfield, Illinois Town Center
2007Robberfly with damselfly prey
2007Fruto del Árbol Del Pan
2006Untitled photo
2005Tachinidae Gymnocheta
2005Sawfly 003
2005Polistes fuscatus
2005Osage orange 1
2005Horse fly Tabanus 2
2005Ant Formica sp
2004UltimateEndorsement
2004Dogbane leaf beetles
2003Salticidae Eris sp
2002Locust borer wiki
2002Acanthocephala terminalisThe 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.
Grew from 164 people in 1880 to 9,835 in 2020, more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Winfield Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Winfield Township post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1921.
Winfield Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #415 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.
3 listings: 1 building, among them the Himmelfarb, Samuel and Eleanor House and Studio (listed 2018, the first). 4 historic buildings in all.
9% of Winfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (24), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
