Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1998 on and old-book passages.
The Zeigler post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Big Muddy (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Zeigler is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Zeigler’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Zeigler’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Zeigler.
In 1905, fifty men were killed in a coal mining accident in or near the town.
Zeigler incorporated in 1914 and was named for Levi Zeigler Leiter, the father of Joseph Leiter, the founder of the Zeigler Coal Company.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Zeigler, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The City of Zeigler was incorporated in 1914, but the boom that started Zeigler growing into one of the most prosperous cities of the county, did not start until 1917, when the Zeigler Coal Company began the sale of its houses and real estate. At that time the population was 1 500 — the population at the present time is over 3500 and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
THE City of Zeigler was first incorporated in 1914, and previous to that time the town was owned by the Zeigler Coal Company, which believed that it was better for the miners to own their own homes and opened up the town to private enterprises about this time.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Zeigler’s post office has been open since 1903. Another post office, Big Muddy, 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).
The Zeigler post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Zeigler is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. 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.
52% of Zeigler’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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
2021
2021