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History · Chestnut Township

52% of Chestnut Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1982 on.

0on the National Register
52%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Chestnut 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 writtenNo old photos of Chestnut Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Chestnut Township’s homes were built before 1938.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Chestnut Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chestnut Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chestnut Township’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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The story so far

Chestnut Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Chestnut Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Chestnut Township is one of twenty-one townships in Knox County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 216 and it contained 117 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 253 to 216 (-15%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Hermon, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
BridgeportBurnsideHermon
Gone or out of use
Bliss SchoolschoolBridgeport FerrycrossingCornfield College SchoolschoolDavies Landing StripairportFair Mound SchoolschoolHarper SchoolschoolSlough Island SchoolschoolSouth Grove SchoolschoolWay Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Chestnut Township
Elias BraggHarperHermon ChristianHermon Methodist

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

Timeline

Chestnut Township, 1852 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852Post officeThe Hermon post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1962Post officeThe Hermon post office closes
  5. 1982On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Chestnut Township on the map, 1982 to 1998

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

Chestnut Township on the 1982 USGS mapChestnut Township on the 1998 USGS map1982De Long sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chestnut Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Ellisville Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOrange TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndian Point TownshipIts storyBMaquon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Chestnut Township’s history

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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.