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BHistory
History · Bourbonnais Township

Bourbonnais Township dates to 1832, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #303 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Most of Bourbonnais Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1900.

1832founded
1on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bourbonnais Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bourbonnais Township began

When was Bourbonnais Township founded?

1832

Bourbonnais Township dates its founding to 1832 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 595 in 19002020 census: 39,210194 years

How historic is Bourbonnais Township?

B

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1838.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Bourbonnais Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bourbonnais Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #303 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bourbonnais Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1832, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19405.1% of homes (±1.3) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 5 historic buildings, 1.3 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 64%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 61%

Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bourbonnais Township’s 1.3 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1832.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Bourbonnais 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19223 editions of the USGS map, 1922 to 1973. Watch Bourbonnais Township change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1832: 194 years of Bourbonnais Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bourbonnais Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBourbonnais: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Bourbonnais Township on the map, 1922 to 1973

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

Bourbonnais Township on the 1922 USGS mapBourbonnais Township on the 1964 USGS mapBourbonnais Township on the 1973 USGS map1922Kankakee 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 Bourbonnais Township.

Timeline

Bourbonnais Township, 1832 to 1922

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1832
    FoundingBourbonnais Township is established
  3. 1883In the archiveBourbonnais
  4. 1886Post officeThe Altorf post office opens
  5. 1887Post officeThe Altorf post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902In the archiveGreetings from Bourbonnais; Church of the Maternity; Notre Dame Academy
  8. 1922On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Bourbonnais Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bourbonnais Township.

Read it all →

The village is named for François Jace Bourbonnais père, a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the American Fur Company, who had married a Native American woman and arrived in the area near the fork of two major Indian trails and the Kankakee River circa 1830. John Jacob Astor had founded the company in 1808, and when the United States banned foreign (i.e. British and Canadian) companies (such as the Hudson's Bay Company) from competing in the country after the War of 1812, it flourished. By 1830 it had a near monopoly of fur trading in the midwest, but the number of local trappable wild animals had declined.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Bourbonnais Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1900s2 items
Bourbonnais1883BourbonnaisGreetings from Bourbonnais; Church of the Maternity; Notre Dame Academy1902Greetings from Bourbonnais; Church of the Maternity; …
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Welcome To The Snow Freeze Of2021Welcome To The Snow Freeze OfThe Cemetery Of Bourbonnais IL 609142021The Cemetery Of Bourbonnais IL 60914Bourbonnais IL Olivet Nazarene Hotels And Bookings StreetStop Sign2021Bourbonnais IL Olivet Nazarene Hotels And Bookings St…ILMap-doton-Bourbonnais2006ILMap-doton-Bourbonnais
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bourbonnais
Retake this viewBourbonnais, 1883

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bourbonnais Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 5 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Bourbonnais Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 18,631

Between 595 and 18,631 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Altorf
Gone or out of use
Burnham SchoolschoolDupis SchoolschoolKarlock AirportairportRaymond SchoolschoolSenesac SchoolschoolWorrell Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Bourbonnais Township
Smith

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.

Limestone TownshipIts storyC+Kankakee Township10 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGaneer Township1 historic placeARockville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townManteno TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Bourbonnais Township’s history

What year was Bourbonnais Township founded?

In 1832, according to Wikidata. Bourbonnais Township’s post office opened in 1838, and the census of 1900 counted 595 people here.

How does Bourbonnais Township rank for history?

Bourbonnais Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #303 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Bourbonnais Township?

5% of Bourbonnais Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1978.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.