Andover is the oldest community in Henry County. Andover was the first area to be settled as a town within the county and the first mill was built in 1836–37. Andover soon became a hub of wagon trails.
Andover was founded in September 1835 by the Reverend Ithamar Pillsbury, as an agent for the Andover Colony. Pillsbury, who had been a corporal in the War of 1812 attached in the New Hampshire military, narrowly escaping death in the war which had convinced him to become a Presbyterian minister.
Passages that mention Andover Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Illinois1885 · page 275Read the page →
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Our subject, after the death of his parents, lived with Mr. H. G. Griffin, of Andover Township (see sketch), until the fall of 1855, when he began to farm on his own account. In 1856 he purchased 160 acres on section 27, of Cambridge Township, where he lived for one year. He then purchased a quarter of a section in Andover Township, and worked it from 1858 to 1867, when he came to his present
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Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Illinois1885 · page 407Read the page →
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Prussia, and in 1845 came to America, and for six months lived at St. Louis. In the summer of 1845 he came to Henry County, and lived nine months in Andover Township, and in 1846 came into Weller, and three years later pre-empted 40 acres of land on section 3, where he established his home and has since lived. He was thus one of the first pioneers to locate in that part of the county. To-day he is
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Andover Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Andover sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Andover Township.
On the National Register
3 historic places in Andover Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Gone or out of use
Boyd Wheatleys Farm AirportairportEdwards Valley SchoolschoolFairview SchoolschoolGriffin SchoolschoolMaple Valley SchoolschoolUnionville SchoolschoolWheatley Landing Stripairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Andover Township
Andover TownshipRose Dale
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1835, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Andover Township’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1880 counted 302 people here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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