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History · Fayette Township

44% of Fayette Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1947 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Fayette 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 writtenNo old photos of Fayette Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Fayette Township’s homes were built before 1951.
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The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fayette Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Fayette Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fayette Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Fayette Township is located in Livingston County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 246 and it contained 97 housing units. Fayette Township formed from Belle Prairie Township on February 22, 1870.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 271 to 246 (-9%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Fayette Township in 1878

Passages that mention Fayette Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

It seems appropriate that some mention should be made in the history of Fayette Township of the "• Burr Oak Farm," the largest farm in the world, perhaps, owned and controlled by a single individual. The Burr Oak Farm of M. L. Sullivant embraces nearly 40,000 acres, eight sections of which lie in F…
The History of Livingston County, Illinois1878 · page 566Read the page →
Read the text

It seems appropriate that some mention should be made in the history of Fayette Township of the "• Burr Oak Farm," the largest farm in the world, perhaps, owned and controlled by a single individual. The Burr Oak Farm of M. L. Sullivant embraces nearly 40,000 acres, eight sections of which lie in Fayette Township and four sections in Germantown, while the remainder of it is in Ford County. People who have never visited the great West, and in whose eyes a farm of two or three hundred acres is large, have very little conception of the magnificent scale on which farming operations are carried on in

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

Fayette Township, 1881 to 1947

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Risk post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Post officeThe Risk post office closes
  5. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

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On the map

Fayette Township on the map, 1947 to 1986

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

Fayette Township on the 1947 USGS mapFayette Township on the 1986 USGS map1947Sibley 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 Fayette Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Fayette Township

Nobody well known was born in Fayette Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Frances McDormandAmerican actress · b. 1957
Francis TownsendAmerican politician · b. 1866
John Arthur LoveAmerican politician · b. 1916
Lloyd LoarAmerican luthier · b. 1886
Leslie C. ArendsAmerican politician · b. 1895
Scott M. BennettAmerican politician · b. 1977
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Risk

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Sullivant TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBelle Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Fayette Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 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.