Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #392 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Yorkville was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Its Register listings are the Yorkville School, the Kendall County Courthouse and the Bristol Congregational Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
Yorkville dates its founding to 1833 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Yorkville is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #392 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Yorkville’s 1.3 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Yorkville’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveYorkvilleCampFrom Wikipedia’s history of Yorkville.
In 1833, the city of Yorkville was settled by early pioneers. Originally, the city's main thoroughfare of Bridge Street was designed for horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians. As time passed, Hydraulic Street, which runs parallel to the Fox River, boasted a trolley that ran from Ottawa to Aurora. This part is now operated by the Illinois Railway.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Yorkville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
IN 1865 the proposition to incorporate the village of Yorkville was voted down. Also the proposition to annex the town of Somonauk, DeKalb county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
N 1836, the village of Yorkville was laid out bv Rulief Durvea. Only his cabin, in which he kept store, stood there at the time, but soon after Mr. Howe and Mr.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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2012Yorkville, Illinois
2008YorkvilleCampPool
2007Yorkville IL Water tower1
2007Yorkville IL Tile2
2007Yorkville IL Tile1
2006Yorkville1Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Yorkville. 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 Yorkville.
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 Yorkville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 365 people in 1880 to 21,533 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Yorkville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Yorkville’s post office has been open since 1864.
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.
In 1833, according to Wikidata. Yorkville’s post office opened in 1864, and the census of 1880 counted 365 people here.
Yorkville is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #392 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.
Three places: the Yorkville School (listed 1995), the Kendall County Courthouse (1998) and the Bristol Congregational Church (2016).
0.8% of Yorkville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 2003.
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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
