History · Penfield

Penfield’s history is mostly unwritten

The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Penfield. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

3old photos & papers

1famous people

3need a date

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Penfield’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Penfield’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Penfield’s homes were built before 1938.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Penfield’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewPenfield Elevators, Front Street: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Penfield came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Penfield.

Read it all →

Penfield was laid out in 1876 and is named after John Penfield of Rantoul, Illinois. It had a station on the now-defunct Illinois Central Railroad along with nearby Gifford.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Penfield, decade by decade

Date unknown3 to date

Date?Penfield Elevators, Front Street

Date?Penfield Elevators, West Elevator, Front Street

Date?Penfield Elevators, East Elevator, Front Street

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewPenfield Elevators, Front Street

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Penfield’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Weigh in

Has Penfield changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Start a conversation

From the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia and Wikidata for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.