Carlock was laid out on January 5, 1888, by John Franklin Carlock. Mr. Carlock owned 160 acres (65 ha) of land. One 80-acre (32 ha) tract was used to plat the original village of Carlock. It was located south of the hard road, Route 9 (now U.S. Route 150), connecting Bloomington and Peoria. It was one of the last towns platted in McLean County. Just northeast of the present location of Carlock the main road from Bloomington to Peoria, which was locally known as the Old Trail passed or the Old Peoria Trail, ascended a low range of wooded hills. This location had long been of interest to townsite developers. The first attempt was made by local farmer John McGee, who in 1838 laid out the town of Livingston; it consisted of seven blocks and a town square. Livingston was a total failure. McGee was unable to sell a single lot. The second attempt at town founding was more successful. By the 18…
Passages that mention Carlock, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McLean County, Illinois1924 · page 384Read the page →
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section 28, and from 1878 to '88 it looked promising. Several stores, a postoffice, mill, harness shop and twenty dwellings were erected. In 1887 when the Lake Erie railroad passed a mile and a half southwest of Oak Grove and the town of Carlock established on the railroad, most of the buildings in Oak Grove were moved to Carlock, and the former village disappeared.
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W. Green. Arrowsmith has had a Christian Church since 1879. The church at Bellflower was formed in 1891, and in 1913 the modern church was built. Buck Creek Church, near Lexington, was formed in 1850 and a house erected in 1869. A church was formed at Carlock in 1836, known as White Oak Grove, but after fifty-three years of existence it passed out and the membership transferred to Carlock. Colfax has had a church since 1867, and in 1907 the present building was erected. John R. Golden formed a congregation at Cooksville in 1902, succeeding the
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Carlock, 1868 to 1927
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carlock. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1927Danvers 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 Carlock.
Every building
Carlock, building by building, 1914
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1914Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
People over time
Carlock, census by census
Between 318 and 552 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Carlock’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Carlock’s history
What year was Carlock founded?
In 1888, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Carlock’s post office opened in 1889, and the census of 1960 counted 318 people 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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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