Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Amboy Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B+History
History · Amboy Township

Amboy Township’s post office opened in 1853, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #240 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1860.

1853first post office
1on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Amboy Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Amboy Township began

When was Amboy Township founded?

1853

The Amboy Township post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1854. Two smaller post offices, Shelburn (1846) and Binghampton (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,615 in 18602020 census: 2,820173 years

How historic is Amboy Township?

B+

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Amboy Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Amboy Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Amboy Township is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #240 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Amboy Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1853, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194036.8% of homes (±7.2) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register1 listing, 3.6 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 73%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 69%

Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Amboy Township’s 3.6 sits above most of its state (72% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1854 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Amboy Township’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Amboy Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Amboy Township’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Amboy Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCyrus Millard Davis (Out West, 1909): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Shelburn
1846–1860
Binghampton
1850–1855
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BinghamptonShelburn
Gone or out of use
Amboy QuarrymineGreen River Ordnance PlantmilitaryGreen Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Amboy Township
BinghamptonMormonPrairie Repose

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Amboy Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Amboy Township.

Read it all →

Amboy had its start in the 1850s when the Illinois Central Railroad was extended to that point. The community's name is a transfer from Amboy, New Jersey.

The chain of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. began in Amboy when Samuel Carson opened his first dry goods store there in 1854.

The Christian denomination Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had a general conference in Amboy on April 6, 1860, at which time Joseph Smith III reorganized the church founded by his father Joseph Smith Jr.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Amboy Township, 1846 to 1951

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe Shelburn post office opens
  3. 1850Post officeThe Binghampton post office opens
  4. 1855Post officeThe Binghampton post office closes
  5. 1860Post officeThe Shelburn post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1909In the archiveCyrus Millard Davis (Out West, 1909)
  8. 1910In the archive303 East Main St., Amboy, IL - c. 1910
  9. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Amboy Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s2 items
Cyrus Millard Davis (Out West, 1909)1909Cyrus Millard Davis (Out West, 1909)303 East Main St., Amboy, IL - c. 1910c. 1910303 East Main St., Amboy, IL - c. 1910
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today12 recent
Casey's Gas Station2022Casey's Gas StationWhats For Dinner?, Amboy Depot Days2012Whats For Dinner?, Amboy Depot DaysElectric Jesus2012Electric JesusDoty Family Crypt bw, Prairie Repose Cemetery2012Doty Family Crypt bw, Prairie Repose Cemetery20120128 44 Sunset Inn near201220120128 44 Sunset Inn nearDigital Lomo Architecture2011Digital Lomo ArchitectureAmboy Il Downtown42007Amboy Il Downtown4Amboy Il Downtown32007Amboy Il Downtown3Amboy Il Downtown22007Amboy Il Downtown2Amboy Il Downtown12007Amboy Il Downtown1Amboy Il Downtown Mormon Plaque2007Amboy Il Downtown Mormon PlaqueILMap-doton-Amboy2006ILMap-doton-Amboy
On the map

Amboy Township on the map, 1951 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Amboy Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Amboy Township on the 1951 USGS mapAmboy Township on the 1982 USGS map1951Amboy sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Amboy Township.

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.

Cyrus Millard Davis (Out West, 1909)
Retake this viewCyrus Millard Davis (Out West, 1909), 1909

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Amboy Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Amboy Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000190019502000Peak: 2,825

Between 1,615 and 2,825 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Amboy Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Lee Center TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMay TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmboy1 historic placeA−

Questions about Amboy Township’s history

What year was Amboy Township founded?

The Amboy Township post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1854.

How does Amboy Township rank for history?

Amboy Township is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #240 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Amboy Township?

37% of Amboy Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1962.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (14), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.