The story
Read it all →How Essex Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Essex Township.
Essex Township is named for Isaac B. Essex, an early settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Essex Township
22% of Essex Township’s homes were built before 1940
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: maps from 1944 on and old-book passages.
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
What stands out about Essex Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Essex Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Essex Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Slack Water
Duncan
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DuncanSlackwater
Gone or out of use
Cox SchoolschoolEssex Grove SchoolschoolLocust Grove SchoolschoolOgle SchoolschoolPhils AirstripairportPleasant Hill SchoolschoolSchiebel SchoolschoolStringtown SchoolschoolWyoming Airportairport
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Essex Township
Saint DominicSchiebelSheetsStringtown
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Essex Township in 1916
Passages that mention Essex Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people1916 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text
Just east of the Spoon river, in section 33, Essex Township, is the old viUage of Shickwater, which at one time was a trading point and neighhorliood center of some importance. The building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and the foundhig of the town of Duncan, only a mile and half east on the railroad, robbed Slackwater of its prestige and it sank into insignificance.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.![Walnut Creek is referred to in Rev. S. G. Wright's diary as "the heart of the ]Mormon settlement," though no organized church was ever established in the county. The elders operated about West Jersey, in Essex Township and in the vicinity of Lafayette. Among their converts were Adam Perry and some …](https://images.townratings.com/story/19929/bk-d31231fd6062e1a3-l.jpg)
History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people1916 · page 260Read the page →
Read the text
Walnut Creek is referred to in Rev. S. G. Wright's diary as "the heart of the ]Mormon settlement," though no organized church was ever established in the county. The elders operated about West Jersey, in Essex Township and in the vicinity of Lafayette. Among their converts were Adam Perry and some members of the Essex family.
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
Essex Township, 1853 to 1944
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 albumOn the map
Essex Township on the map, 1944 to 1983
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Essex Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1944Kewanee sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Essex Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Essex Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Essex Township
Nobody well known was born in Essex Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Toulon Township1 historic placeAPrinceville Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townValley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWest Jersey TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMillbrook TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Essex Township’s history
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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, 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.