Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 2000.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how English Township’s history is told.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of English Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
English Township is one of eleven townships in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 461 and it contained 193 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 487 to 461 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention English Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Township Settlement. The original roads from these settlements to Carrollton, which was the county seat of Greene County, was from the Lofton Prairie Settlement, through the Otter Creek Settlement, and north along the skirt of the timber, through English Township to Car¬ rollton. There wrere no roads running from Alton to Carrollton, through Jerseyville in that day. The early settlers, as before stated, did not
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1819 — Lofton’s Prairie and Piasa Settlement and settlements along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers in Quarry and Richwoods townships ; also settlement in English Township. 1821 — Land Office opened at Edwardsville for entry of lands in Madison and Greene counties after the purchase of Indian rights in that territory.
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.
Weddings 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 English Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of English Township.
Between 461 and 536 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on English Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in English Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.
