Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Galesburg 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
Old Main Knox CollegePhoto: Jimmy Thomas · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
History · Galesburg Township

Galesburg Township dates to 1837, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 30 old photos and papers, maps from 1925 on, and the census since 1850.

1837founded
0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
30old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Galesburg Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Galesburg Township began

When was Galesburg Township founded?

1837

Galesburg Township dates its founding to 1837 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 323 in 18502020 census: 406189 years
Founding year: Wikidata.The full story ↓

What stands out about Galesburg Township’s past

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

A town in postcards30 old photos, postcards and papers, 1863–1923.Deep rootsEstablished in 1837: 189 years of Galesburg Township.On the map since 19253 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1996. Watch Galesburg Township change.
★ What stands out · By decade

Galesburg Township, decade by decade

6 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1870s5 items
Union soldier Lewis F. Roe in1863Union soldier Lewis F. Roe inScene on porch of house of C. C. Merrill. Galesburg, Ill.Alternate Title: Group reading and sewing on the porch of C. C…c. 1865Scene on porch of house of C. C. Merrill. Galesburg, …'No Admittance'1870'No Admittance'Atlas map of Knox County, Illinois1870Atlas map of Knox County, IllinoisMapAtlas map of Knox County, Illinois1870Atlas map of Knox County, IllinoisMap
1890s–1900s11 items
SanteFeDepot21899SanteFeDepot2PostcardAnniversary of Lincoln Douglas Debate-Address of President McKinley - Allen Ayraulot Green, Galesburg, Illinois1899Anniversary of Lincoln Douglas Debate-Address of Pres…Anniversary of Lincoln Douglas Debate--Address of President McKinley1899Anniversary of Lincoln Douglas Debate--Address of Pre…Santa Fe depot1907Santa Fe depotPostcardSanta Fe depot1907Santa Fe depotPostcardGalesburg, Illinois postcard (NBY 45)1908Galesburg, Illinois postcard (NBY 45)PostcardGalesburg, Illinois postcard (NBY 46)1908Galesburg, Illinois postcard (NBY 46)PostcardGalesburg ILL Oct 12 19091909Galesburg ILL Oct 12 1909PostcardGalseburg IL Oct 12 19091909Galseburg IL Oct 12 1909PostcardSanta Fe Station, Galesburg, Illinois 19091909Santa Fe Station, Galesburg, Illinois 1909PostcardSanta Fe Station, Galesburg, Illinois 19091909Santa Fe Station, Galesburg, Illinois 1909Postcard
1910s13 items
Rosin & Co. 1809 - Prospect Point, Niagara Falls backc. 1910Rosin & Co. 1809 - Prospect Point, Niagara Falls backCB&Q depot fire 4-27-1911, postcard1911CB&Q depot fire 4-27-1911, postcardPostcardCB&Q depot fire 4-27-1911, postcard1911CB&Q depot fire 4-27-1911, postcardPostcardSanta Fe depot1912Santa Fe depotPostcardSanta Fe depot1912Santa Fe depotPostcardKnox Conservatory of Music, Galesburg, Ill1914Knox Conservatory of Music, Galesburg, IllKnox Conservatory of Music1914Knox Conservatory of MusicKnox College, Calesbury [sic], Ill1914Knox College, Calesbury [sic], IllCeremonies - Illinois - Peace Day Parade, Nov. 11, 1918, Galesburg, Ill1917Ceremonies - Illinois - Peace Day Parade, Nov. 11, 19…Ceremonies - Illinois - Peace Parade, Nov. 11, 1918, Galesburg, Ill1917Ceremonies - Illinois - Peace Parade, Nov. 11, 1918, …Ceremonies - Illinois - Peace Parade, Nov. 11, 1918, Galesburg, Ill1917Ceremonies - Illinois - Peace Parade, Nov. 11, 1918, …Recruiting and Draft Service - Farewell Scenes [165-WW-476A-93]1917Recruiting and Draft Service - Farewell Scenes [165-W…Drafted men from Galesburg, Illinois1918Drafted men from Galesburg, Illinois
1920s1 item
SanteFeDepot11923SanteFeDepot1Postcard
1930s–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
Timeline

Galesburg Township, 1837 to 1925

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837
    FoundingGalesburg Township is established
  3. 1863In the archiveUnion soldier Lewis F. Roe in
  4. 1870In the archive'No Admittance'
  5. 1899In the archiveSanteFeDepot2
  6. 20th century
  7. 1907In the archiveSanta Fe depot
  8. 1910In the archiveRosin & Co. 1809 - Prospect Point, Niagara Falls back
  9. 1923In the archiveSanteFeDepot1
  10. 1925On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Galesburg Township on the map, 1925 to 1996

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

Galesburg Township on the 1925 USGS mapGalesburg Township on the 1982 USGS mapGalesburg Township on the 1996 USGS map1925Galesburg 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 Galesburg Township.

The story

How Galesburg Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Galesburg Township.

Read it all →

Galesburg was founded by George Washington Gale, a Presbyterian minister from New York state who had formulated the concept of the manual labor college and first implemented it at the Oneida Institute near Utica, New York. In 1836 Gale publicized a subscription- and land purchase-based plan to found manual labor colleges in the Mississippi River valley. Land was purchased for this purpose in Knox County and in 1837 the first subscribers to the college-founding plan arrived and began to settle what became Galesburg.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.

Union soldier Lewis F. Roe in
Retake this viewUnion soldier Lewis F. Roe in, 1863

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Galesburg Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,0001850190019502000Peak: 37,243

Between 323 and 37,243 people in every census since 1850.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Clay SchoolschoolHurley SchoolschoolUnion SchoolschoolWest Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Galesburg Township
ClaySaint Josephs

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Galesburg Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewUnion soldier Lewis F. Roe in: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Galesburg3 historic placesA+Galesburg City Township3 historic placesA+Knox Township3 historic placesAHenderson TownshipIts storyB+Cedar TownshipIts storyBColdbrook TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEast GalesburgIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Galesburg Township’s history

What year was Galesburg Township founded?

In 1837, according to Wikidata. the census of 1850 counted 323 people here.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (27), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.