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History · Garden Plain Township

Garden Plain Township’s post office opened in 1846, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1891 on.

1846first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Garden Plain Township began

When was Garden Plain Township founded?

1846

The Garden Plain Township post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Garden Plain (1846), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 973180 years
Founding year: the first Garden Plain Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Garden Plain 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 Garden Plain Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18913 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1991. Watch Garden Plain Township change.Deep rootsA post office since 1846: 180 years of Garden Plain Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Garden Plain Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garden Plain 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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On the map

Garden Plain Township on the map, 1891 to 1991

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

Garden Plain Township on the 1891 USGS mapGarden Plain Township on the 1976 USGS mapGarden Plain Township on the 1991 USGS map1891Clinton 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 Garden Plain Township.

Timeline

Garden Plain Township, 1846 to 1916

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe Garden Plain post office opens
  3. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1916Post officeThe Garden Plain post office closes
The story so far

Garden Plain Township, in brief

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

Garden Plain Township is located in Whiteside County, Illinois. As of the 2021 census, its population was 983 and it contained 492 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1846. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,072 to 973 (-9%).

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

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.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Garden Plain Township

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

See all →
Robert Andrews MillikanAmerican physicist · b. 1868
David C. HilmersAmerican astronaut · b. 1950
Lillian RussellAmerican opera singer and actress · b. 1861
Eliza Ruhamah ScidmoreAmerican writer and photographer · b. 1856
Salvatore GiuntaUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1985
Peggy MoranActress · b. 1918
Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
East ClintonGarden Plain
Gone or out of use
Cedar Creek SchoolschoolGarden Plain QuarrymineLockhart SchoolschoolSpring Creek SchoolschoolStone Street Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Garden Plain Township
Garden PlainMinta

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.

Union Grove TownshipIts storyB+Albany TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNewton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFulton Township3 historic placesA

Questions about Garden Plain Township’s history

What year was Garden Plain Township founded?

The Garden Plain Township post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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) 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.