Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Deer Creek

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Deer Creek

Deer Creek dates to 1830, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1890.

1830founded
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Deer Creek began

When was Deer Creek founded?

1830

Deer Creek dates its founding to 1830 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1890.

First census: 125 in 18902020 census: 667196 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1853.The full story ↓

What stands out about Deer Creek’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 Deer Creek are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1830: 196 years of Deer Creek.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Deer Creek’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Deer Creek’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
Timeline

Deer Creek, 1830 to 1928

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1830
    FoundingDeer Creek is established
  3. 1853Post officeThe Deer Creek post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1914Born hereWilson Tucker is born here
  6. 1928On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Deer Creek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Deer Creek.

Read it all →

Deer Creek was founded in 1830. Deer Creek received its name from the creek that ran through the northwest part of the village and the red deer that roamed the woods and came to the creek for water. In the late 1830s, Abraham Chaffer started the first business in Deer Creek at Chaffer's Corner, which was located in the center of Deer Creek Township. The location of Deer Creek has moved three times since 1830, from Chaffer's Corner to New Castle, from New Castle to Belmont, and from Belmont to the present site of Village of Deer Creek.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Deer Creek in 1879

Passages that mention Deer Creek, cut from the printed page as they were published.

There is a post-office in the centef 'of the township by the name of Deer Creek. On section 32, John W. Osborn laid off the town of New Castle, in 1861. In giving the history of the township, we would also mention a few of the p*.,'{3ons who have and are making its history. Among this number we fin…
History of Tazewell county, Illinois1879 · page 428Read the page →
Read the text

There is a post-office in the centef 'of the township by the name of Deer Creek. On section 32, John W. Osborn laid off the town of New Castle, in 1861. In giving the history of the township, we would also mention a few of the p*.,'{3ons who have and are making its history. Among this number we find Eri Bogardus, residence, section 21. Post-office address, Deer Creek.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the said Chapman, party of tlie second part, his executors, administrators, and a-signs, my undivided half of ten acres of corn on my farm in the town of Deer Creek, Illinois ; one pair of horses, twenty sheep, and five cows, belonging to me, and in my possession at the farm al'oresaid; to have and…
History of Tazewell county, Illinois1879 · page 765Read the page →
Read the text

the said Chapman, party of tlie second part, his executors, administrators, and a-signs, my undivided half of ten acres of corn on my farm in the town of Deer Creek, Illinois ; one pair of horses, twenty sheep, and five cows, belonging to me, and in my possession at the farm al'oresaid; to have and to hold the same unto the party of the second ]:>art, his executors and assigns, forever. And I do, for myself and legal representatives, agree with the said party of the second part, and his legal representatives, to warrant and defend

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.
Add from your album
On the map

Deer Creek on the map, 1928 to 1970

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

Deer Creek on the 1928 USGS mapDeer Creek on the 1932 USGS mapDeer Creek on the 1970 USGS map1928Mackinaw 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 Deer Creek.

Every building

Deer Creek, 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.

Deer Creek fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 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

Deer Creek, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 704

Between 125 and 704 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Questions about Deer Creek’s history

What year was Deer Creek founded?

In 1830, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Deer Creek’s post office opened in 1853, and the census of 1890 counted 125 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 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.