From Durand Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Durand Township began
When was Durand Township founded?
1883
The Durand Township post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Tyler (1841), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 530 in 18802020 census: 2,330143 years
How historic is Durand Township?
B−
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Durand Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Durand Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Durand Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Durand 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 Durand 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 B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 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 Durand Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Its township's beginnings initiated originally in a no longer existing settlement called Elton, an area South of Durand and including parts of the Pecatonica and Rock Run townships and settled in 1835 by Nelson Salisbury, Harvey Lower, and Scott Robb. They and nine other families settled the Southwest portion of modern Durand, Pecatonica, and Rock Run area. Durand gave birth to Illinois' first tax-supported volunteer fire department. Since its settlement, Durand has been prone to devastating fires. Durand's early flourishings were closely linked to the development of the Racine-Mississippi Railroad later absorbed into Western Union. The line reached Durand in 1857, en route to Freeport, paving the shift from the Elton community into modern Durand and deriving its name from the railroad's first president, H.S. Durand. At this time, Durand saw the beginning of its prosperity which en…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Durand Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1932Pecatonica 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 Durand Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewHarriet Williams Myers (Who's Who in Los Angeles County, 1929), 1929
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Durand Township’s page.
Between 489 and 1,443 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Durand Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Tyler, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Gone or out of use
Church Hill SchoolschoolCrane SchoolschoolCrow SchoolschoolFarm Quarry Number 110mineFarmingdale SchoolschoolPleasant Valley SchoolschoolPrairie Block SchoolschoolTyler Post Officepost officeUnion Churchchurch
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Durand Township
CraneDurandHowardOaklandRock RunSaint Marys
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.
The Durand Township post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Durand Township rank for history?
Durand Township is more historic than 46% 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 Durand Township?
26% of Durand Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 Wikimedia Commons (9), Wikipedia, 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.
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