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History · Cottonwood Township

38% of Cottonwood Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1930.

0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Cottonwood Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Cottonwood Township’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cottonwood Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cottonwood Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Johnston
1855–1905
Fulkerson
1875–1876
Janesville
1879–today
Bradbury
1883–1910
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BradburyJanesvilleJohnstown
Gone or out of use
Brown SchoolschoolFair Play SchoolschoolFulkerson Post Officepost officeHickory Corner SchoolschoolJones SchoolschoolKing SchoolschoolPleasant Grove SchoolschoolThornton AirportairportWebster Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cottonwood Township
HagginHuttonTippett

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

The story so far

Cottonwood Township, in brief

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

Cottonwood Township is one of eight townships in Cumberland County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 485 and it contained 223 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 521 to 485 (-7%).

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

Timeline

Cottonwood Township, 1855 to 1933

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Johnston post office opens
  3. 1875Post officeThe Fulkerson post office opens
  4. 1876Post officeThe Fulkerson post office closes
  5. 1879Post officeThe Janesville post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1905Post officeThe Johnston post office closes
  8. 1933On 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

Cottonwood Township on the map, 1933 to 1998

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

Cottonwood Township on the 1933 USGS mapCottonwood Township on the 1984 USGS mapCottonwood Township on the 1998 USGS map1933Toledo 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 Cottonwood Township.

People over time

Cottonwood Township, census by census

020040060080019401960198020002020Peak: 875

Between 485 and 875 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Union TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Grove Township1 historic placeASumpter Township2 historic placesA−Neoga TownshipIts storyC+JanesvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Cottonwood 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, 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.