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History · Derinda Township

Derinda Township’s post office opened in 1852, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 2000.

1852first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Derinda Township began

When was Derinda Township founded?

1852

The Derinda Township post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Derinda (1852), Derinda Center (1873) and Massbach (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 354 in 20002020 census: 274174 years
Founding year: the first Derinda Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Derinda 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 Derinda Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Derinda Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Derinda Township’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Derinda Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Derinda 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

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

Derinda
1852–1895
Derinda Center
1873–1905
Massbach
1885–1953
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Massbach
Gone or out of use
Derinda Post Officepost officeLogan SchoolschoolOakland Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Derinda Township
AlbrightMassbachMorrison

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

The story so far

Derinda Township, in brief

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

Derinda Township is one of 23 townships in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 274 and it contained 176 housing units. Derinda Township was named in the 1850s for Derinda Barr, the wife of an early settler.

Its first post office opened in 1852. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 321 to 274 (-15%).

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

Timeline

Derinda Township, 1852 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852Post officeThe Derinda post office opens
  3. 1873Post officeThe Derinda Center post office opens
  4. 1885Post officeThe Massbach post office opens
  5. 1895Post officeThe Derinda post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1905Post officeThe Derinda Center post office closes
  8. 1953Post officeThe Massbach post office closes
  9. 1953On 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

Derinda Township on the map, 1953 to 1975

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

Derinda Township on the 1953 USGS mapDerinda Township on the 1975 USGS map1953Blackhawk sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Derinda Township.

People over time

Derinda Township, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 354

Between 274 and 354 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Pleasant Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWoodbine Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHanover Township1 historic placeAWashington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Derinda Township’s history

What year was Derinda Township founded?

The Derinda Township post office opened in 1852, 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, 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.