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History · Bear Grove Township

20% of Bear Grove Township’s homes were built before 1940

0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Bear Grove 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 Bear Grove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Bear Grove Township’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bear Grove Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bear Grove Township’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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The story so far

Bear Grove Township, in brief

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

Bear Grove Township is one of twenty townships in Fayette County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 553 and it contained 232 housing units. The township was originally known as Johnson Township.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 599 to 553 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Bear Grove Township, 1854 to 1870

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Prairie Mound post office opens
  3. 1865Post officeThe Prairie Mound post office closes
  4. 1870Post officeThe Hagerstown post office opens
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Bear Grove Township

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

See all →
J
June SquibbAmerican actress · b. 1929
A
Alfred Harrison JoyAmerican astronomer · b. 1882
H. L. HuntAmerican businessman · b. 1889
J
Job Adams CooperUnion United States Army soldier · b. 1843
Virgil MillerAmerican cinematographer · b. 1886
Frederick RemannAmerican politician · b. 1847
Places that used to be

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

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

Prairie Mound
1854–1865
Hagerstown
1870–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HagarstownJimtown
Gone or out of use
Alton SchoolschoolBowles SchoolschoolCenter SchoolschoolClover College SchoolschoolElm Grove SchoolschoolEvans SchoolschoolLutz AirportairportPond Grove SchoolschoolPrairie Mound SchoolschoolWescott Churchchurch
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bear Grove Township
BethlehemEakleEvansMcInturffWright and Neathery

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.

Shafter TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSeminary TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVandalia Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMulberry Grove TownshipIts storyB+Mulberry GroveIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bear Grove Township’s history

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 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.