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History · Darwin Township

Darwin Township’s post office opened in 1836

Most of Darwin Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: maps from 1932 on.

1836first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Darwin Township began

When was Darwin Township founded?

1836

The Darwin Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Darwin (1836) and Ernst (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 347190 years
Founding year: the first Darwin Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Darwin 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 Darwin Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Darwin Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1836: 190 years of Darwin Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Darwin Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Darwin 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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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.

Darwin
1836–1949
Ernst
1885–1926
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DarwinErnstSnyder
Gone or out of use
Blackhawk SchoolschoolHall SchoolschoolSherman SchoolschoolWashington Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Darwin Township
BubeckDarwinHall

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

Timeline

Darwin Township, 1836 to 1949

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1836Post officeThe Darwin post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Ernst post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1926Post officeThe Ernst post office closes
  6. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1949Post officeThe Darwin post office closes
The story so far

Darwin Township, in brief

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

Darwin is an unincorporated community in Darwin Township, Clark County, Illinois, United States. Darwin is located along the Wabash River across from the state of Indiana. Darwin was originally called McClare's Bluff, and under the latter name had its start in the 1820s. It became the county seat of Clark County in 1823, and the first Clark County Courthouse was built there in 1827. Local government remained in Darwin until relocating to Marshall following an 1837 referendum.

Its first post office opened in 1836. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 342 in 2010, 347 in 2020.

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

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

Darwin Township on the map, 1932 to 1964

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

Darwin Township on the 1932 USGS mapDarwin Township on the 1964 USGS map1932Marshall 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 Darwin Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

York TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAnderson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWabash TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Darwin Township’s history

What year was Darwin Township founded?

The Darwin Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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.