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History · Bath

Bath’s post office opened in 1834, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1850.

1834first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Bath began

When was Bath founded?

1834

The Bath post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 336 in 18502020 census: 279192 years
Founding year: the first Bath post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bath’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 Bath are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 513 in 1860; 279 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1834: 192 years of Bath.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bath’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bath’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Bath, census by census

01002003004005001850190019502000Peak: 513

Peaked at 513 in 1860; 279 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

Timeline

Bath, 1834 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1834Post officeThe Bath post office opens
  3. 1860CensusPopulation peaks at 513
  4. 20th century
  5. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Bath came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bath.

Read it all →

The area was first settled in 1828 by John Stewart and John Gillespie from the state of Kentucky. Future 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, surveyed the land on November 1, 1836. The settlement's name was most likely borrowed from another United States place named in turn after Bath, England, such as Bath, Ohio or Bath, New York. Alternatively, a popular story attributes the name to Lincoln quipping that the town's location on the Illinois River would be a nice place for a bath. Bath also became the name of the township when it was formed in 1861.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Bath in 1876

Passages that mention Bath, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Mr. Richardson was born in Kentucky, in 1S14; moved to Illinois in 1S19, and settled on Grand Island, in the Illinois river, opposite Bath, in 1S36, and has resided in Bath for the past nine years. He assisted the late President Lincoln in the original surveys of this country and the town of Bath. …
Centennial history of Mason County, including a sketch of the early history of Illinois, its physical peculiarities, soils, climate, production, etc.1876 · page 140Read the page →
Read the text

Mr. Richardson was born in Kentucky, in 1S14; moved to Illinois in 1S19, and settled on Grand Island, in the Illinois river, opposite Bath, in 1S36, and has resided in Bath for the past nine years. He assisted the late President Lincoln in the original surveys of this country and the town of Bath. Mr. R. is a natural mechanic; has been engaged in the various occupations of blacksmithing, shoe-making, boat-building and cabinetmaking. Mr. Lincoln and surveying party boarded with Mr. Richardson during their stay in

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On the completion of the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad through Mason county, he was made station agent at Bath, a position he has since retained without a furlough, being the first and only agent at that town.
Centennial history of Mason County, including a sketch of the early history of Illinois, its physical peculiarities, soils, climate, production, etc.1876 · page 134Read the page →
Read the text

On the completion of the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad through Mason county, he was made station agent at Bath, a position he has since retained without a furlough, being the first and only agent at that town.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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

Bath on the map, 1930 to 1981

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

Bath on the 1930 USGS mapBath on the 1975 USGS mapBath on the 1981 USGS map1930Chandlerville 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 Bath.

Questions about Bath’s history

What year was Bath founded?

The Bath post office opened in 1834, 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 →
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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, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.