The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Danvers was laid out under the name of "Concord" on February 20, 1836, by Israel W. Hall (1799 - 1865) and Matthew Robb (1801 – 1870). The name Concord was given to the town by Hall after Concord, Massachusetts. A rival town, Wilkesborough, just over a mile to the east, was laid out by James O. Barnard on June 3 of the same year. Wilkesborough had 96 lots and a public square. Both towns were part of the great town founding surge in Illinois that peaked in 1836. Between 1835 and 1837 eight new towns and many additions were laid out in McLean County. At this time it was fairly common for two towns to be founded close to each other as they competed for the same locational advantage. In this case both towns were on the stage route from Bloomington to Peoria and Pekin. For several years it was unclear which town would be successful. Wilkesborough did quite well and by 1859 had 15 heads of fa…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Danvers’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Danvers’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo1 archive item has no date+2 🔁Retake an old viewIllinois, Danvers quadrangle, 1930: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Danvers, decade by decade
1990s
unknown1 item
Nothing in Danvers is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Danvers has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Illinois Traction System Mackinaw Depot in Mackinaw, 7.9 miles away.
Danvers and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Illinois, Danvers quadrangle (1930) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.