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History · Elvaston

Elvaston’s post office opened in 1857, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1880.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Elvaston began

When was Elvaston founded?

1857

The Elvaston post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 294 in 18802020 census: 147169 years
Founding year: the first Elvaston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Elvaston’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 Elvaston are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Elvaston’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elvaston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elvaston’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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The story so far

Elvaston, in brief

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

Elvaston is a village in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 147 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1857. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 165 to 147 (-11%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Elvaston in 1880

Passages that mention Elvaston, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Its one village is the thriving and pleasant town of Elvaston, on its west line, laid out May, 1858, by Albert L. Connable and George B. Smythe, of Keokuk; E. C. A. Cushman, of Hamilton, and W.
History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws1880 · page 771Read the page →
Read the text

Its one village is the thriving and pleasant town of Elvaston, on its west line, laid out May, 1858, by Albert L. Connable and George B. Smythe, of Keokuk; E. C. A. Cushman, of Hamilton, and W.

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.

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.

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On the map

Elvaston on the map in 1986

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elvaston.

Elvaston on the 1986 USGS map1986Keokuk sheet · 1:100,000

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

People over time

Elvaston, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 308

Between 147 and 308 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Elvaston’s history

What year was Elvaston founded?

The Elvaston post office opened in 1857, 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), 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.