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History · Bluffs

Bluffs’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Bluffs. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
0recent photos

The story so far

from Wikipedia & the U.S. Census

Bluffs is a village in Scott County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bluffs had a population of 618. It was briefly (1969–1971) the location of the WJJY TV Mast, the tallest structure (1,610 feet tall - 491 m) built to that date in Illinois. Bluffs is part of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 715 to 618 (-14%). Half of its homes were built before 1956.

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bluffs yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.

Be one of the first

Start Bluffs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bluffs’s history is told.

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Famous people from BluffsWriters, athletes, leaders and more who were born in Bluffs.Meet them →
By decade

Bluffs, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Bluffs is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Bluffs has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Griggsville Landing Lime Kiln in Flint, 7.2 miles away.

Bluffs and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Bluffs. Tap a dot.
Griggsville Landing Lime KilnWinchester Historic DistrictGriggsville Historic DistrictChurch of ChristLa Grange Lock and Dam Historic DistrictJoseph Duncan House

Closest to Bluffs

Griggsville Landing Lime KilnFlint · Structure7.2miWinchester Historic DistrictWinchester · District9.2miGriggsville Historic DistrictGriggsville · District10.5miChurch of ChristPerry · Building11.4miLa Grange Lock and Dam Historic DistrictCooperstown · District13.4mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Griggsville Landing Lime Kiln’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Bluffs?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Bluffs’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Exeter📜 Naples📜 Meredosia📜 Chambersburg
The coffee’s on

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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