Most of Blissville Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1974 on and the census since 2000.
The Blissville Township post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Blissville (1841), Knob Prairie (1860) and Grand Arm (1875), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 392 in 20002020 census: 400185 years
Founding year: the first Blissville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Blissville Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Blissville
1841–1858
Knob Prairie
1860–1862
Grand Arm
1875–1876
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Williamsburg
Gone or out of use
Bethany ChurchchurchBlissville Polling HousebuildingCarter SchoolschoolCoats College SchoolschoolDees SchoolschoolFour Corners SchoolschoolGrand Arm Post Officepost officeLocust Grove SchoolschoolLone Oak SchoolschoolMinson Churchchurch
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Blissville Township
GilbertKnob PrairieMinsonMount ZionQuinnTaylor
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Blissville Township, 1841 to 1974
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Blissville Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Blissville Township is one of sixteen townships in Jefferson County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 400 and it contained 175 housing units.
Its first post office opened in 1841. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 404 in 2010, 400 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blissville Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1974Woodlawn sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Blissville Township.
People over time
Blissville Township, census by census
Between 392 and 404 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blissville Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
Famous people close to Blissville Township
Nobody well known was born in Blissville Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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.
