Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Eldred

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Eldred

Eldred’s post office opened in 1884, and 50% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1910.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
50%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Eldred began

When was Eldred founded?

1884

The Eldred post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 241 in 19102020 census: 149142 years
Founding year: the first Eldred post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Eldred’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 Eldred are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 340 in 1940; 149 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Eldred’s homes were built before 1940.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Eldred’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Eldred’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Eldred, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 340

Peaked at 340 in 1940; 149 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Eldred came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Eldred.

Read it all →

Eldred was founded because of its situation in the Illinois River Bottoms as a town that combined the values of a river and a bluff-side village. Eldred first appeared on river plat books as "Farrow Town" in the 1830s, but was founded sometime before the admittance of Illinois as a state in 1818. A few of its original founders, were of Scotch-Irish ancestry from the Upland South.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Eldred, 1884 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Eldred post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 340
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Eldred on the map, 1930 to 1980

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

Eldred on the 1930 USGS mapEldred on the 1950 USGS mapEldred on the 1980 USGS map1930Pearl 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 Eldred.

Famous people

Famous people close to Eldred

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

See all →
Clarence Andrew CannonAmerican politician · b. 1879
A
Arthur Scott KingAmerican astrophysicist · b. 1876
Hugh W. CrossAmerican politician, lawyer, farmer, and busine… · b. 1896
J
Jim WatsonAmerican politician · b. 1965
K
Kathie ConwayMember of the Missouri House of Representatives · b. 1955
Marc HillAmerican baseball player and coach · b. 1952

Questions about Eldred’s history

What year was Eldred founded?

The Eldred post office opened in 1884, 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 →
Start a conversation
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 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.