Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Assumption 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
–Not graded
History · Assumption Township

Assumption Township dates to 1856, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Illinois State Bank Building. Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1870.

1856founded
1on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Assumption Township began

When was Assumption Township founded?

1856

Assumption Township dates its founding to 1856 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.

First census: 590 in 18702020 census: 1,345170 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1858.The full story ↓

What stands out about Assumption 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 Assumption Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,918 in 1910; 1,155 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Assumption Township’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Assumption Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Assumption 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
People over time

Assumption Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,918

Peaked at 1,918 in 1910; 1,155 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story

How Assumption Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Assumption Township.

Read it all →

Assumption began in 1852 as a station called "Tacusah" or "Tacusa" on the Illinois Central Railroad. The present name is after Assumption Parish, Louisiana. In 1856, Édouard-Élisée Malhiot, a French Canadian Patriote leader who had been living in exile in Louisiana, established a settlement near the Tacusa station that attracted approximately 50 emigrant French Canadian families. He named the settlement L'Assomption after the Louisiana parish. The post office name changed to Assumption in 1858. The community was incorporated as the City of Assumption in 1876.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Assumption Township, 1856 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856
    FoundingAssumption Township is established
  3. 1877Post officeThe Dunkel post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Dunkel post office closes
  6. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 1,918
  7. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Assumption Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Image The Illinois State Bank Building2015Image The Illinois State Bank Building
On the map

Assumption Township on the map, 1952 to 1998

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

Assumption Township on the 1952 USGS mapAssumption Township on the 1982 USGS mapAssumption Township on the 1998 USGS map1952Assumption 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 Assumption Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Assumption 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
first listed
1984
Illinois State Bank Building
Illinois State Bank Building
Buildings
Illinois State Bank BuildingBuilding

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

Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Dunkel, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Dunkel
Gone or out of use
Carter SchoolschoolDunkle Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Assumption Township
Saint Marys

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.

Prairieton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLocust TownshipIts storyBRural TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPana Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMay TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Assumption Township’s history

What year was Assumption Township founded?

In 1856, according to Wikidata. Assumption Township’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1870 counted 590 people here.

What is on the National Register in Assumption Township?

One place: the Illinois State Bank Building (listed 1984).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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.