Princeton’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Princeton. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Bureau County was a New England settlement. The founders of Princeton consisted entirely of settlers from New England. These people were "Yankees," descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the 1600s. They were part of a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s. Most of them arrived as a result of the completion of the Erie Canal. When they arrived in what is now Bureau County there was nothing but a virgin forest and wild prairie; the New Englanders laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes. They brought with them many of their Yankee New England values, such as a passion for education, fueling the establishment of many schools, as well as staunch support for abolitionism. They were mostly members of the Congregationalist Church, thoug…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Princeton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Princeton’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBird's eye view of the city of Pr…, 1870: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Princeton
See all 24 →
Princeton, decade by decade
8 historic places in Princeton
Princeton has 8 listings on the National Register, and they protect 96 historic buildings, because Princeton South Main Street-Courthouse Square Historic District alone counts 56. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier, which fewer than 3% of listings reach.
Where they are
When they were listed
LandmarkListed 1973Owen Lovejoy Homestead
Listed 1980Princeton Chapter House
Listed 1983Richard M. Skinner House
Listed 2018Princeton North Main Street Historic District
Listed 2018Princeton South Main Street-Courthouse Square Historic District
Listed 2018Hampshire Colony Congregational Church
Listed 2021Oakland Cemetery Historic District
Listed 2021Colonel George H. Paddock HouseThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Bird's eye view of the city of Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois 1870 (1870) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.