Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Winslow post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Winslow’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Winslow yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Winslow is a village in Stephenson County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, Winslow had a population of 281.
Its first post office opened in 1845. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 338 to 281 (-17%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Winslow, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1844 Cyrus Woodman, the new agent of the land company, surveyed, platted and laid off the village of Winslow. Lots on the main street were held at ten dollars and twenty-five dollars each. The real estate company was not lacking in hope and laid off a city with square, streets, avenues, and a wharf. Later the company decided to sell farms instead of town lots, and thus disposed of its holdings.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Ransom, the latter going back East for his family, after surveying the outlook, and returning the following spring. Abenos assisted Mr. Brewster in the management of the ferry, while Ransom settled in Section 36, a mile and a half southeast of the village of Winslow, where he entered a claim and laid off the town of Ransomburg. But the town did not prosper as was anticipated, Winslow appropriating the new-comers because of its more favorable site, and Ransomburg in time was utilized for farming purposes, Robert Pilson now residing and farming within its original metes and bounds.
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of communicating with points at which supplies could be obtained were exceedingly meager. Three saw-mills had been commenced — one at Winslow by Thomas Lott, the second on Yellow Creek by William Kirkpatrick, and Turner's Mill at the mouth of Rock Run, but none of them were completed until late in the season. There were no grist-mills north of the Illinois River ; during the year William Kirkpatrick erected a corn cracking machine on Yellow Creek, which was also used as a grist-mill, but it was a poor substitute, and was employed to crack wheat as well as corn. The houses were nearly all
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The Massachusetts influence gave the township its name, for in 1838 it was called Winslow in honor of Governor Winslow, one of the provincial governors of that state. The name was given by W. S. Russell, the agent of the Boston Land Company in 1838.
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.
The Winslow post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.
2021