Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Banner 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 · Banner Township

Banner Township’s post office opened in 1874, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1940.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Banner Township began

When was Banner Township founded?

1874

The Banner Township post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Monterey (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 172 in 19402020 census: 325152 years
Founding year: the first Banner Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Banner 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 Banner Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 247 in 1960; 169 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Banner Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Banner 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

Banner Township, census by census

010020019401960198020002020Peak: 247

Peaked at 247 in 1960; 169 people lived here in 2020.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

The story so far

Banner Township, in brief

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

Banner is a village in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 169 at the 2020 census. The current President of Banner is Ronald Test. The former President of Banner for 28 years was Kenneth Fuller.

Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 373 to 325 (-13%).

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

Timeline

Banner Township, 1883 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Monterey post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Monterey post office closes
  5. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 247
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

Banner Township on the map, 1930 to 1982

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

Banner Township on the 1930 USGS mapBanner Township on the 1982 USGS map1930Glasford 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 Banner Township.

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Monterey
Gone or out of use
Burhans SchoolschoolKing Hill SchoolschoolMacedonia SchoolschoolMonterey SchoolschoolVictor SchoolschoolWalnut Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Banner Township
BybeeKings HillWalnut

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.

Spring Lake TownshipIts storyC+Orion TownshipIts storyCBuckheart TownshipIts storyB−Liverpool TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTimber TownshipIts storyB

Questions about Banner Township’s history

What year was Banner Township founded?

The Banner Township post office opened in 1874, 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.