Bradford was laid out in 1863, and incorporated in 1869. The Dixon, Peoria and Hannibal Railroad passed through Bradford, and the settlement was "located on very high ground, overlooking fertile farms in all directions." The population was over 500 in 1876.
Bradford was a part of the 1937 - 1947 USDA, AAA historical aerial photography collection as well as the 1955 - 1980 statewide USDA collection.
Passages that mention Bradford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people1916 · page 251Read the page →
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Soon after the Town of Bradford was surveyed in the spring of 18.)4 and a few people had settled there, some of the JMethodists belonging to the classes at \Vairs schoolhouse and Seeley's Point began to discuss the advisability of uniting and organizing a church at Bradford. Several years elapsed before the movement took definite shape, but the early records of the congregation cannot be found, hence the history of the church prior to about 1875 is uncertain. In that year a frame house of worship was erected at a cost of •$.'$, 500. It was dedi-
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History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people1916 · page 124Read the page →
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A postoffice was established at Bradford soon after the town was surveyed, but the name of the first jxistmaster could not be learned by the writer. Some idea of the growth of the town and the develo])- ment of its business interests may be gained from the knowledge that in 191.5 the postoffice had risen to a third-class office, Avith annual receipts of about four thousand dollars, em])l()ying two people and being the source of five rural routes that distrii)ute mail daily over a large territory. T. .T. Mowbray was then postmaster.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Bradford, 1853 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
![A postoffice was established at Bradford soon after the town was surveyed, but the name of the first jxistmaster could not be learned by the writer. Some idea of the growth of the town and the develo])- ment of its business interests may be gained from the knowledge that in 191.5 the postoffice had…](https://images.townratings.com/story/3392/bk-b5ec04fd196362a7-l.jpg)
