Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Farmington Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
IL116wIL78sRoadSignsSplit-Farmington (38701184044)Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
AHistory
History · Farmington Township

Farmington Township dates to 1834, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #108 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1880.

1834founded
1on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Farmington Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Farmington Township began

When was Farmington Township founded?

1834

Farmington Township dates its founding to 1834 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 1,111 in 18802020 census: 3,241192 years

How historic is Farmington Township?

A

More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1834.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Farmington Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Farmington Township is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #108 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Farmington Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1834, from Wikipedia: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194031.7% of homes (±7.2) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register1 listing, 3.2 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 87%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 86%

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 Farmington Township’s 3.2 sits above most of its state (71% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.2 points). Two sources give 1834.

Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Farmington Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Farmington Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsEstablished in 1834: 192 years of Farmington Township.Old housesHalf of Farmington Township’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Farmington Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Farmington Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHOUSE IN: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Middlegrove, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Forty AcresGilchristMiddlegrove
Gone or out of use
Alden Mine Number 5mineAlden Mine Number 6mineClair SchoolschoolCottonwood SchoolschoolLiberty SchoolschoolMaplewood Mine Number 2mineNational MinemineNew Gilchrist SchoolschoolRetreat SchoolschoolShad Hill SchoolschoolWashington Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Farmington Township
Chapin Pleasant HillCoal CreekHillProvidence Chapel

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Farmington Township, 1834 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1834
    FoundingFarmington Township is established
  3. 1834Post officeThe Middlegrove post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1962Post officeThe Middlegrove post office closes
  7. 1973In the archiveHOUSE IN
  8. 1980In the archiveBarber pole, Route 116
The story

How Farmington Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Farmington Township.

Read it all →

Farmington was founded in 1834, with its post office being established on January 6, 1836. The area was first inhabited by members of the Potawatomi tribe. The city is named after Farmington, Connecticut.

Before and during the Civil War, the city was involved in the Underground Railroad, and there are several remaining homes that were safehouses. In the early 1900s, many Italian immigrants settled in Farmington.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Farmington Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1970s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s–1980s2 items
HOUSE IN1973HOUSE INBarber pole, Route 1161980Barber pole, Route 116
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
An account of Azariah Orton, of Farmington, Illinois, and his descendantsDate?An account of Azariah Orton, of Farmington, Illinois,…Book
Today4 recent
IL116wRoadSign-Farmington2016IL116wRoadSign-FarmingtonIL116wRoad-JctIL78sign2016IL116wRoad-JctIL78signIL116wIL78sRoadSignsSplit-Farmington2016IL116wIL78sRoadSignsSplit-FarmingtonIL116wIL78sRoadSigns2016IL116wIL78sRoadSigns
On the map

Farmington Township on the map, 1912 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Farmington Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Farmington Township on the 1912 USGS mapFarmington Township on the 1974 USGS map1912Canton 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 Farmington Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

HOUSE IN
Retake this viewHOUSE IN, 1973

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Farmington Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Farmington 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.

People over time

Farmington Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 3,118

Between 1,111 and 3,118 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Salem TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCanton Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFairview TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTrivoli TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNorrisIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Farmington Township’s history

What year was Farmington Township founded?

In 1834, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Farmington Township’s post office opened in 1834, and the census of 1880 counted 1,111 people here.

How does Farmington Township rank for history?

Farmington Township is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #108 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.

How old are the homes in Farmington Township?

32% of Farmington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1957.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.