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History · Crooked Creek Township

11% of Crooked Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1930.

0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Crooked Creek 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 Crooked Creek Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Crooked Creek Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crooked Creek Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crooked Creek 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

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

Hazle Dell
1851–1878
Hazel Dell
1878–1966
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Hazel Dell
Gone or out of use
Baumgartner SchoolschoolCenter SchoolschoolCopeland SchoolschoolDelno SchoolschoolLittle Brown SchoolschoolRader SchoolschoolRuffner SchoolschoolWade SchoolschoolWashington Evangelical United Brethren ChurchchurchWashington Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Crooked Creek Township
Duck PondHazel Dell NorthHazel Dell SouthRuffnerWashington

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

The story so far

Crooked Creek Township, in brief

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

Crooked Creek Township is one of eight townships in Cumberland County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 325 and it contained 180 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 422 to 325 (-23%).

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

Timeline

Crooked Creek Township, 1851 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Hazle Dell post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Hazle Dell post office closes
  4. 1878Post officeThe Hazel Dell post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1966Post officeThe Hazel Dell post office closes
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

Crooked Creek Township on the map, 1940 to 1998

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

Crooked Creek Township on the 1940 USGS mapCrooked Creek Township on the 1985 USGS mapCrooked Creek Township on the 1998 USGS map1940Greenup 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 Crooked Creek Township.

People over time

Crooked Creek Township, census by census

020040060080019401960198020002020Peak: 842

Between 325 and 842 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Crooked Creek Township

Nobody well known was born in Crooked Creek Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Burl IvesAmerican musician · b. 1909
George W. FithianAmerican politician · b. 1854
Payne RatnerAmerican politician · b. 1896
Samuel H. YoungAmerican politician · b. 1922
Fred Barthold NormanAmerican politician · b. 1882
D
Dale BairdAmerican horse trainer · b. 1935
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 townGreenup Township1 historic placeAJohnson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrandville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Crooked Creek 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.