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History · Grand Detour Township

Grand Detour Township dates to 1835, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them the John Deere House and Shop, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 19 old photos and papers and maps from 1918 on.

1835founded
2on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
19old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Grand Detour Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Grand Detour Township began

When was Grand Detour Township founded?

1835

Grand Detour Township dates its founding to 1835 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1838.

2020 census: 677191 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1838.The full story ↓

What stands out about Grand Detour Township’s past

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

A town in old photos19 old photos, postcards and papers, 1910–1933.A National Historic Landmark2 places on the National Register, including John Deere House and Shop, a National Historic Landmark.Mystery photos9 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.On the map since 19183 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1983. Watch Grand Detour Township change.
★ What stands out · By decade

Grand Detour Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s10 items
Sheffield-Hotel-Grand-Detour1910Sheffield-Hotel-Grand-DetourPostcardGrand-Detour-Postcard-Bridge-19111911Grand-Detour-Postcard-Bridge-1911PostcardDETAIL, TWO PANED, DOUBLE SASHED WINDOW - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933DETAIL, TWO PANED, DOUBLE SASHED WINDOW - Horace Pain…DETAIL, WINDOW PANEL AND PANE - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933DETAIL, WINDOW PANEL AND PANE - Horace Paine House, W…HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 0 of 2) - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 0 of 2) - Horace Paine Hou…HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 0 of 2) - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 0 of 2) - Horace Paine Hou…HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 1 of 2) - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 1 of 2) - Horace Paine Hou…HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 1 of 2) - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 1 of 2) - Horace Paine Hou…HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 2 of 2) - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 2 of 2) - Horace Paine Hou…HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 2 of 2) - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, IL1933HABS ILL,71-GRAD,3- (sheet 2 of 2) - Horace Paine Hou…
1940s–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 unknown9 to date
Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936. ENTRANCE DOOR DETAIL - Pankhurst House, Gra…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936. INTERIOR DETAIL- DOOR AND WINDOW TRIM - Pan…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936. MAIN ENTRANCE - SOUTH ELEVATION - Pankhurst…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936. PARLOR FIREPLACE - Pankhurst House, Grand D…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936. SOUTH AND WEST ELEVATIONS - Pankhurst House…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936. SOUTH ELEVATION - Pankhurst House, Grand De…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, ILDate?Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Gran…INTERIOR, DOOR WITH SIDELIGHTS - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, ILDate?INTERIOR, DOOR WITH SIDELIGHTS - Horace Paine House, …INTERIOR, FIREPLACE AND MANTEL - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets, Grand Detour, Ogle County, ILDate?INTERIOR, FIREPLACE AND MANTEL - Horace Paine House, …
Today5 recent
Rock River Grand Detour12007Rock River Grand Detour1Grand Detour, IL Unknown School 012007Grand Detour, IL Unknown School 01Grand Detour, IL Fire Dept 022007Grand Detour, IL Fire Dept 02Grand Detour, IL Fire Dept 012007Grand Detour, IL Fire Dept 01Grand Detour Township, IL 012007Grand Detour Township, IL 01
On the National Register

2 historic places in Grand Detour Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmark
1
John Deere House and Shop
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
John Deere House and Shop
St. Peter’s Episcopal ChurchJohn Deere House and Shop★
Buildings★ landmark
★ Landmark
John Deere House and ShopBuilding
All 2 listings
St. Peter’s Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 2026

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Grand Detour 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
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo9 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSheffield-Hotel-Grand-Detour: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Grand Detour Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grand Detour Township.

Read it all →

Grand Detour was founded in 1835 by Leonard Andrus (1805–1867) of Vermont. In 1836 Andrus welcomed his friend and fellow Vermont native John Deere to the town, where Deere built a house and established a forge. Deere manufactured pitchforks and shovels, and in 1837 he invented the first successful steel plow. The first was sold in 1838.

The John Deere Historic Site in Grand Detour is operated by the John Deere Company. The John Deere House and Shop is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it joined that list in 1966, the year the Register was established. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

The village soon grew to include a dam, race and sawmill, a flour mill and several stores.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Grand Detour Township, 1835 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1835
    FoundingGrand Detour Township is established
  3. 1838Post officeThe Grand Detour post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905Post officeThe Grand Detour post office closes
  6. 1910In the archiveSheffield-Hotel-Grand-Detour
  7. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1933In the archiveDETAIL, TWO PANED, DOUBLE SASHED WINDOW - Horace Paine House, Walker and Illinois Streets…
  9. 1964LandmarkJohn Deere House and Shop named a National Historic Landmark
On the map

Grand Detour Township on the map, 1918 to 1983

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

Grand Detour Township on the 1918 USGS mapGrand Detour Township on the 1950 USGS mapGrand Detour Township on the 1983 USGS map1918Dixon 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 Grand Detour 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.

Sheffield-Hotel-Grand-Detour
Retake this viewSheffield-Hotel-Grand-Detour, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Grand Detour Township

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

See all →
Carl BarksAmerican cartoonist · b. 1901
A
Akiane KramarikAmerican artist, humanitarian, poet, child prod… · b. 1994
Ralph Waldo TrineAmerican author · b. 1866
Harry Leon WilsonAmerican novelist · b. 1867
George PeekAmerican economist · b. 1873
G
George Perkins ClintonAmerican plant pathologist · b. 1867
Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Grand Detour
Gone or out of use
Fairview SchoolschoolHickory Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Grand Detour Township
Grand Detour

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.

Dixon Township7 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTaylor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOregon-Nashua Township5 historic placesA+Pine Creek Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrand Detour2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Grand Detour Township’s history

What year was Grand Detour Township founded?

In 1835, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Grand Detour Township’s post office opened in 1838.

What is on the National Register in Grand Detour Township?

Two places: the John Deere House and Shop (listed 1966) and the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (2026).

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 (24), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.