2 of Fancy Creek Township’s places are on the National Register
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #289 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Power Farmstead. Most of Fancy Creek Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1907 on.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fancy Creek Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #289 of 768 in Illinois. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fancy Creek Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fancy Creek Township’s 24.0 sits above most of its state (87% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 14 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.5 points).
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Fancy Creek Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fancy Creek Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1907Springfield 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 Fancy Creek Township.
Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Hamlets and corners on the map
AndrewBarrEllisGreen AcresNorth Wind
Gone or out of use
Center Point SchoolschoolDunlap SchoolschoolFancy Creek SchoolschoolFisher Landing StripairportGeorgetown SchoolschoolStrode SchoolschoolTilson SchoolschoolWiggins Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fancy Creek Township
BrittinCanterburyFancy CreekKernStrode
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Fancy Creek Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fancy Creek Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fancy Creek Township is located in Sangamon County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 5,410 and it contained 2,074 housing units. Fancy Creek Township changed its name from Power Township on September 11, 1861. The township annexed the eastern half of Salisbury Township in 1989, thereby increasing in size. The Sangamon River State Fish and Wildlife Area, a state-owned conservation area, is located here on the banks of the Sangamon River.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,410 to 5,836 (+8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Fancy Creek Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #289 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Fancy Creek Township?
2 listings: 1 building, among them the Power Farmstead (listed 1989, the first). 14 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Fancy Creek Township?
6% of Fancy Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1997.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2026
2022
2014