Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Athensville 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 · Athensville Township

Athensville Township’s post office opened in 1838, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 2000.

1838first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Athensville Township began

When was Athensville Township founded?

1838

The Athensville Township post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Athensville (1838) and Ceres (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 395 in 20002020 census: 292188 years
Founding year: the first Athensville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Athensville 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 Athensville Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Athensville Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1838: 188 years of Athensville Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Athensville Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Athensville 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

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

Athensville
1838–1936
Ceres
1893–1902
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Athensville
Gone or out of use
Ceres SchoolschoolJackson SchoolschoolMount Airy SchoolschoolRichwoods SchoolschoolSpencer SchoolschoolUnion ChurchchurchUnion Grove ChurchchurchUnion Grove Schoolschool
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Athensville Township
AthensvilleBarnett Number 1CeresJacksonReeve - MaberryRhodesSheppardUnion Prather

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

Timeline

Athensville Township, 1838 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Athensville post office opens
  3. 1893Post officeThe Ceres post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Ceres post office closes
  6. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1936Post officeThe Athensville post office closes
The story so far

Athensville Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Athensville Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Athensville Township is one of thirteen townships in Greene County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 292 and it contained 131 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1838. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 343 to 292 (-15%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

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.
Add from your album
On the map

Athensville Township on the map, 1932 to 1983

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

Athensville Township on the 1932 USGS mapAthensville Township on the 1983 USGS map1932Greenfield 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 Athensville Township.

People over time

Athensville Township, census by census

010020030040020002020Peak: 395

Between 292 and 395 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Rubicon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townScottville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRoodhouse Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Athensville Township’s history

What year was Athensville Township founded?

The Athensville Township post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 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.