A history of Darlington,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Darlington from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The first residence within the city limits of Darlington was a log house owned by Jamison Hamilton in 1836. He laid out the village of Avon, or Centre, in 1847. Darlington was first organized in 1849, but was known for a long time as the town of Centre. The first town meeting was held on April 3, 1849, with 82 votes being cast.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Darlington’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewPecatonica River, 1907: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Darlington
See all 9 →
Darlington, decade by decade
1990s
3 historic places in Darlington
Darlington has 3 listings on the National Register, and they protect 42 historic buildings, because Main Street Historic District alone counts 40.
Where they are
When they were listed
Listed 1978Lafayette County Courthouse
Listed 1994Main Street Historic DistrictListed 2022Darlington Carnegie Free LibraryThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Pecatonica River (1907) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (5) and the National Register (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.