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History · Ash Grove Township

34% of Ash Grove Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1947 on.

0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Ash Grove 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 writtenNo old photos of Ash Grove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Ash Grove Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ash Grove Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Cochran's Grove
1831–1856
Flat Branch
1852–1856
Sexson
1877–1903
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sexson Corner
Gone or out of use
Ash Grove SchoolschoolFlat Branch SchoolschoolFour Mile SchoolschoolLodge SchoolschoolPrairie Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ash Grove Township
Ash GroveCochranEllisGaskillLower Ash GroveTempleton

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

The story

How Ash Grove Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ash Grove Township.

Read it all →

Ash Grove was initially settled by Euro-Americans by 1830. It was an early location of Mormon missionary activity in Illinois, with Mormons residing there by 1832. In late 1836 a mob attacked a Mormon missionary preaching at Ash Grove. Younger Green got an affidavit for the arrest of the mob, but the militia refused to cooperate in arresting the accused mobbers.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ash Grove Township, 1831 to 1947

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831Post officeThe Cochran's Grove post office opens
  3. 1852Post officeThe Flat Branch post office opens
  4. 1856Post officeThe Cochran's Grove post office closes
  5. 1856Post officeThe Flat Branch post office closes
  6. 1877Post officeThe Sexson post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1903Post officeThe Sexson post office closes
  9. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Ash Grove Township on the map, 1947 to 1998

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

Ash Grove Township on the 1947 USGS mapAsh Grove Township on the 1981 USGS mapAsh Grove Township on the 1998 USGS map1947Stewardson 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 Ash Grove Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Ash Grove Township

Nobody well known was born in Ash Grove Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
M
Melbourne Armstrong CarrikerAmerican ornithologist and entomologist · b. 1879
C
Cora MeekAmerican quiltmaker · b. 1889
F
Fred K. HufferAmerican composer and conductor · b. 1879
W
Walter C. LindleyUnited States federal judge · b. 1880
W
William Irving ShumanAmerican banker · b. 1882
E
Earnest Charles WatsonAmerican physicist · b. 1892
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Whitley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBig Spring TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRichland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNeoga TownshipIts storyC+Windsor TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Ash Grove Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.