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History · Bureau Junction

Bureau Junction’s post office opened in 1855, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1880.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
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Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Bureau Junction began

When was Bureau Junction founded?

1855

The Bureau Junction post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Leepertown (1851), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 240 in 18802020 census: 281171 years
Founding year: the first Bureau Junction post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bureau Junction’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 Bureau Junction are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18935 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1979. Watch Bureau Junction change.Boom and bustPeaked at 682 in 1920; 281 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Bureau Junction’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bureau Junction’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bureau Junction’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Bureau Junction on the map, 1893 to 1979

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

Bureau Junction on the 1893 USGS mapBureau Junction on the 1909 USGS mapBureau Junction on the 1911 USGS mapBureau Junction on the 1966 USGS mapBureau Junction on the 1979 USGS map1893Hennepin 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 Bureau Junction.

People over time

Bureau Junction, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 682

Peaked at 682 in 1920; 281 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Bureau Junction came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bureau Junction.

Read it all →

The village is named for Michel or Pierre Bureau. Their original surname was probably Belleau, but local aboriginals may have had difficulty pronouncing the "l" sound. One or both of the brothers ran a trading post near where Big Bureau Creek empties into the Illinois River from 1776 until 1780 or 1790. A man named Buero, of mixed French and Native American descent, and possibly a descendant of one of the earlier Bureau brothers, was operating in this area as a fur trader in 1821.

In 1874 Bureau Junction had a sizeable railroad operation as the halfway point on the railroad between Chicago and Rock Island. The former Rock Island depot still exists today, albeit abandoned.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bureau Junction, 1851 to 1920

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Leepertown post office opens
  3. 1855Post officeThe Leepertown post office closes
  4. 1855Post officeThe Bureau Junction post office opens
  5. 1883Post officeThe Bureau Junction post office closes
  6. 1883Post officeThe Bureau post office opens
  7. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 20th century
  9. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 682
By decade

Bureau Junction, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Untitled photo2019Untitled photo20160827 05 Iowa Interstate RR, Bureau Jct., Illinois201620160827 05 Iowa Interstate RR, Bureau Jct., Illinois
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Bureau Junction had its own post office from 1855 to 1883. Another post office, Leepertown, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Leepertown
1851–1855
Bureau Junction
1855–1883
Bureau
1883–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bureau
1cemetery inside Bureau Junction
Greenwood

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

Questions about Bureau Junction’s history

What year was Bureau Junction founded?

The Bureau Junction post office opened in 1855, 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), 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.