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History · Denver Township

Half of Denver Township’s homes were built after 1976

Most of Denver Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1941 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Denver 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 Denver Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Denver Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Denver 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

Denver Township, in brief

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

Denver Township is located in Richland County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 411 and it contained 162 housing units. Before May 2, 1859, the locale was known as Boone Township.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 411 in 2010, 409 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Denver Township, 1856 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Wakefield post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Passport post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1907Post officeThe Passport post office closes
  6. 1941On 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

Denver Township on the map, 1941 to 1985

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

Denver Township on the 1941 USGS mapDenver Township on the 1985 USGS map1941Newton 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 Denver Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Denver Township

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

See all →
Elaine ShepardBroadway and film actress in the 1930s and 1940s · b. 1913
Terry L. BruceAmerican politician · b. 1944
Edmund SebreeUnited States general · b. 1898
Edwin B. BrooksAmerican politician · b. 1868
George E. ShipleyAmerican politician · b. 1927
Gilbert L. LawsAmerican politician and Union Army soldier · b. 1838
Places that used to be

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

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

Wakefield
1856–today
Passport
1888–1907
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
PassportWakefield
Gone or out of use
Blue Jean SchoolschoolBrush College SchoolschoolDenver SchoolschoolGumble SchoolschoolHawthorne SchoolschoolKinkade SchoolschoolMount Olive ChurchchurchPleasant Valley ChurchchurchPleasant View ChurchchurchPleasant View SchoolschoolWakefield SchoolschoolWalnut Grove Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Denver Township
HouserLibertyPleasant ViewWachtel

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Noble TownshipIts storyC+Pixley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPreston TownshipIts storyCSmallwood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Denver 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.