The Drury Township post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Drury (1853) and Wrayville (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 758173 years
Founding year: the first Drury Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Drury Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Drury Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Drury Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Drury Township is located in Rock Island County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 797 and it contained 328 housing units. Drury Township was so named on account of there being a large share of the first settlers with the last name Drury.
Its first post office opened in 1853. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 797 to 758 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Drury Township in 1885
Passages that mention Drury Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Portrait and biographical album of Rock Island County, Illinois1885 · page 225Read the page →
Read the text
a small tract of land in Michigan. Mr. LeQuatte has an apple orchard in Drury Township, consisting of 57 acres. He is also the heaviest tax-payer in Drury Township. Mr. LeQuatte was united in marriage in Drury Township, Oct. 25, 1843, to Charlotte T., the accomplished daughter of Isaiah and Priscilla Drury, natives of Maryland. Drury Township is so named
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Portrait and biographical album of Rock Island County, Illinois1885 · page 321Read the page →
Read the text
Co., Ind., where he engaged in farming for himself and others for three years longer. In September, 1844, he came to this county and rented land in Drury Township for six years, when by economy he had succeeded in saving sufficient means to purchase 80 acres of land on section 32, Drury Township, on which he located and at once began the task of clearing, cultivating and improving it, de-
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.
Timeline
Drury Township, 1838 to 1916
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Drury Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1916Edgington 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 Drury Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to Drury Township
Nobody well known was born in Drury Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
2022
2022
