The Embarrass Township post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Embarrass (1863), Catfish (1869) and Isabel (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 573163 years
Founding year: the first Embarrass Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Embarrass Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Embarrass Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Embarrass is an unincorporated community in Coles County, Illinois, United States. Embarrass is located on Illinois Route 16, 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Ashmore. It is adjacent to the Embarras River.
Its first post office opened in 1863. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 620 to 573 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Embarrass Township in 1879
Passages that mention Embarrass Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Edgar County, Illinois1879 · page 506Read the page →
Read the text
The Baptist Church, at Monca’s Point, though on the line between this and Coles County, draws much of its support from Embarrass Township. The Church was founded about forty years ago by Rev. John Shields, an eccentric though earnest and successful preacher of that denomination. A story is related of a brother of the divine that will bear mentioning. The brother, Robert by name, was far from being pious, and, though often pleaded with and prayed for by his reverend brother, continued his crooked ways, to the no small regret and mortification of his pious relatives. On one occasion, some strange
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
Embarrass Township, 1863 to 1953
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 Embarrass Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1946Kansas 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 Embarrass Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to Embarrass Township
Nobody well known was born in Embarrass 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 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.
