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History · Atlas Township

Atlas Township’s post office opened in 1825, and 49% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Lyman Scott House.

1825first post office
1on the National Register
49%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Atlas Township began

When was Atlas Township founded?

1825

The Atlas Township post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Atlas (1825), Atlas (1851) and Gilgal (1859), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 468201 years
Founding year: the first Atlas Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Atlas Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Atlas Township, and 6 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Atlas Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Atlas Township’s homes were built before 1950.Deep rootsA post office since 1825: 201 years of Atlas Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Atlas
1825–1846
Rockport
1846–today
Atlas
1851–1911
Summer Hill
1854–today
Gilgal
1859–1871
Pike
1881–1911
Horton Station
1883–1895
Horton
1895–1907
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AtlasHortonMooresPikeRockportSummer Hill
Gone or out of use
Blackjack SchoolschoolDutch Creek SchoolschoolGilgal SchoolschoolHorton SchoolschoolRiverside SchoolschoolWest Point Schoolschool
11cemeteries and burying grounds inside Atlas Township
AdamsBall's BluffBrokawBrownMillerMooney - MarionPettyRockportSamuel TaylorShinnWombles

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

Help out

Start Atlas Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Atlas 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
The story so far

Atlas Township, in brief

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

Atlas is an unincorporated community which lies at the intersection of US Route 54 and Illinois Route 96 in western Pike County, Illinois. The Illinois community of Rockport lies about 2.5 miles to the northwest along Route 96, while the city of Louisiana, Missouri, lies about six miles to the southwest across the Mississippi River.

Its first post office opened in 1825. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 563 to 468 (-17%).

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

Timeline

Atlas Township, 1825 to 1911

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1825Post officeThe Atlas post office opens
  3. 1846Post officeThe Atlas post office closes
  4. 1846Post officeThe Rockport post office opens
  5. 1851Post officeThe Atlas post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1911Post officeThe Atlas post office closes
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 National Register

1 historic place in Atlas 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
1983
Lyman Scott House
Lyman Scott House
Buildings
Lyman Scott HouseBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Atlas Township

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

See all →
Walter A. ShewhartAmerican statistical quality control expert · b. 1891
G
George Samuel ClasonAmerican businessman and writer · b. 1874
Claude GillingwaterAmerican actor · b. 1870
Floyd DellNovelist, poet, playwright, critic, editor · b. 1887
H
Hobart R. GayUnited States Army general · b. 1894
Lloyd C. StarkGovernor of Missouri from 1937 to 1941 · b. 1886
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Ross TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDerry TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Vale Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMartinsburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCincinnati Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPittsfield Township4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Atlas Township’s history

What year was Atlas Township founded?

The Atlas Township post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Atlas Township?

One place: the Lyman Scott House (listed 1983).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.