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.
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 Township’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Bureau Township in 1877
Passages that mention Bureau Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The voters and tax-payers of Bureau county, Illinois1877 · page 174Read the page →
Read the text
The Wesleyan Methodist Church was organized in 1843, in a school-house in Bureau Township, where they met until the building of their church. In 1843 they enrolled sixteen members ; now there are eighty-four, with a Sunday-school of sixty scholars. The pastor is Rev.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bureau Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1921Buda 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 Township.
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 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.
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