History · Illinois

Illinois’s history is
mostly unwritten

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

0old images & papers
0recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

Illinois Township was established in 1879 from part of Pioneer Township.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Be one of the first

Start Illinois’s collection

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

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

Illinois, 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 Illinois is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Illinois has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Miller Farmstead in Lone Star, 6.9 miles away.

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. Miller Farmstead’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Illinois?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Illinois’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.

We left the porch light on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Illinois, KSRush CountyView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map
Loading boundary…

Illinois is your selected town. The feed includes posts assigned to this town, not a distance radius or ZIP code.

Neighborhoods narrow the feed further, while townwide announcements, events, and issues remain visible.

Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01