The Dry Grove Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Dry Grove (1858), Twin Grove (1874) and Yuton (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,543168 years
How historic is Dry Grove Township?
C
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Dry Grove Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Dry Grove Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dry Grove Township is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dry Grove Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dry Grove Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Dry Grove Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Dry Grove
1858–1859
Twin Grove
1874–1888
Yuton
1889–1908
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Twin GroveYuton
Gone or out of use
Center SchoolschoolCrescent SchoolschoolDry Grove SchoolschoolGarfield SchoolschoolGrant SchoolschoolPannier Flying Club Airportairport
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Dry Grove Township
East Twin GroveHall BarnardLantzRosewood
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Dry Grove Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dry Grove Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dry Grove Township is located in McLean County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,572 and it contained 618 housing units. It contains part of the census-designated place of Twin Grove. Dry Grove Township took its name after Dry Grove, an area of forest at a relatively high and dry elevation.
Its first post office opened in 1858. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,572 in 2010, 1,543 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Dry Grove Township in 1879
Passages that mention Dry Grove Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
There is not now, nor has there ever been, so far as we know, any post office or village within the limits of Dry Grove Township. The nearest was the old post village of Wilkesborough, just across the line, in Danvers Township. There has been no call for any such thing, its proximity to Bloomington being of more advantage than the building of half a score of villages. The trains on the I., B. & W. R. R. do stop at Twin Grove, when they have a passenger to that point, and there is a switch there where farmers may load grain, but there is no station-house nor regular station.
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
Dry Grove Township, 1858 to 1927
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 Dry Grove Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1927Danvers 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 Dry Grove Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to Dry Grove Township
Nobody well known was born in Dry Grove Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Dry Grove Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dry Grove Township rank for history?
Dry Grove Township is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Dry Grove Township?
11% of Dry Grove Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1977.
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).
From 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.
