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History · Browning Township

Browning Township’s post office opened in 1850, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1926 on, and the census since 1860.

1850first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Browning Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Browning Township began

When was Browning Township founded?

1850

The Browning Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Baders (1872) and Bader (1907), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 219 in 18602020 census: 343176 years
Founding year: the first Browning Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Browning 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.Boom and bustPeaked at 551 in 1910; 117 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Browning Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Browning Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Browning 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 viewDESERTED RAILROAD STATION IN: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Browning Township, census by census

0100200300400500600190019502000Peak: 551

Peaked at 551 in 1910; 117 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Baders
1872–1907
Bader
1907–1962
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bader
Gone or out of use
Crossroads SchoolschoolHawkeye SchoolschoolMount Zion SchoolschoolRidgeville Schoolschool
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Browning Township
BaderBrowningHarrisMud ValleyOld RidgevilleRidgevilleSteeleTracy

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

The story

How Browning Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Browning Township.

Read it all →

A man from Kentucky named William Robertson was the first person to build a cabin in the area near the Illinois River in the late 1820s. The town was surveyed in 1848 and named for Orville H. Browning, a lawyer and early settler from Quincy.

Browning High School served the community from c. 1900 through 1947 before being annexed by the Rushville School District. The Grade School would remain until also closing in 1994.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Browning Township, 1872 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Baders post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907Post officeThe Baders post office closes
  5. 1907Post officeThe Bader post office opens
  6. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 551
  7. 1926On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1962Post officeThe Bader post office closes
  9. 1973In the archiveDESERTED RAILROAD STATION IN
By decade

Browning Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s2 items
DESERTED RAILROAD STATION IN1973DESERTED RAILROAD STATION INGENERAL STORE WALL IN1973GENERAL STORE WALL IN
1980s–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
Today1 recent
Browning community park 2026-07-262026Browning community park 2026-07-26
On the map

Browning Township on the map, 1926 to 1981

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

Browning Township on the 1926 USGS mapBrowning Township on the 1944 USGS mapBrowning Township on the 1981 USGS map1926Beardstown 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 Browning Township.

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.

DESERTED RAILROAD STATION IN
Retake this viewDESERTED RAILROAD STATION IN, 1973

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Browning Township

Nobody well known was born in Browning Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Red NorvoAmerican musician · b. 1908
Eddie LyonsAmerican actor, film director · b. 1886
John Calhoun PhillipsAmerican politician · b. 1870
Andrew C. McLaughlinAmerican historian · b. 1861
Stanley J. KorsmeyerAmerican oncologist · b. 1950
F
Frederick Olen MercerUnited States federal judge · b. 1901
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Frederick TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBluff Springs TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHickory TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLynchburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRushville Township2 historic placesA−Astoria Township1 historic placeA

Questions about Browning Township’s history

What year was Browning Township founded?

The Browning Township post office opened in 1850, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.