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History · Bonfield

Bonfield’s post office opened in 1882, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

1882first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Bonfield began

When was Bonfield founded?

1882

The Bonfield post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, McDowell Farm (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 351144 years
Founding year: the first Bonfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Bonfield’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 Bonfield are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Bonfield’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bonfield’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bonfield’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
The story so far

Bonfield, in brief

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

Bonfield is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Bonfield's population was 351 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Kankakee-Bradley, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. Although founded by a quarryman, Thomas Verkler, the village was named after Thomas Bonfield, an attorney for the Kankakee & Seneca Railroad Company, which established a depot in the village. The railroad has long since disappeared into history but it had been on Johnson Street. Old railroad spikes and ties might still be found around the limestone quarry. The depot was moved about a mile and a half south of the village and converted to a barn, which remained in December 2007. The town had a high …

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 382 to 351 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Bonfield, 1874 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe McDowell Farm post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe McDowell Farm post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Bonfield post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1910Born hereBig Moose Meyer is born here
By decade

Bonfield, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Bonfield, Illinois, USA by Ryan Spencer 2017 (Unsplash)2017Bonfield, Illinois, USA by Ryan Spencer 2017 (Unsplas…ILMap-doton-Bonfield2006ILMap-doton-Bonfield
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Bonfield’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, McDowell Farm, opened and closed inside today’s town.

McDowell Farm
1874–1882
Bonfield
1882–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
McDowell Farm Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Bonfield
Bonfield

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Bonfield’s history

What year was Bonfield founded?

The Bonfield post office opened in 1882, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.