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History · Blair Township

10% of Blair Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1956 on.

0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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What stands out about Blair 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 Blair Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Blair Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blair 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

Blair Township, in brief

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

Blair Township is one of twelve townships in Clay County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 573 and it contained 267 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 636 to 573 (-10%).

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

Timeline

Blair Township, 1858 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Hord post office opens
  3. 1874Born hereJohn W. Thomason is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905Post officeThe Hord post office closes
  6. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

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On the map

Blair Township on the map, 1956 to 1985

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

Blair Township on the 1956 USGS mapBlair Township on the 1985 USGS map1956Edgewood 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 Blair Township.

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Hord
Gone or out of use
Newton Chapelchurch
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Blair Township
ConlyNewton ChapelOld Union

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.

Louisville Township2 historic placesA−Larkinsburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townUnion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBible Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOskaloosa TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Blair 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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.