Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #449 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Worth Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1965. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1920.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Worth Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #449 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Worth Township ranks #259 on History.
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 Worth Township’s 0.1 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Worth Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Worth 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 Worth Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Worth Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Worth is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,970.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 152,633 in 2010, 152,934 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Worth Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
ing a village government was discussed; and subsequently a bill was introduced in the State legislature for the re-organization of the township of Calumet, and the cast half of the eastern sections of Worth Township, on the same plan as are the towns of Lake and Hyde- Park. The measure, however, did not pass, and for the time being, the matter of town organization was permitted to drop. In July of 1872 the question was again
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 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.
Between 240 and 11,999 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Worth Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Worth Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Worth Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #449 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.
7% of Worth Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
2016
