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History · Grand Tower

Grand Tower’s post office opened in 1855, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transportation Company Site. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1947 on, and the census since 1880.

1855first post office
1on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Grand Tower’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Grand Tower began

When was Grand Tower founded?

1855

The Grand Tower post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 966 in 18802020 census: 479171 years
Founding year: the first Grand Tower post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Grand Tower’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Grand Tower’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Grand Tower’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grand Tower’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAfter levee break 10 miles-Grand Tower,…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Grand Tower came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grand Tower.

Read it all →

Former names of this town include La Tour ("The Tower"), Jenkins Landing, Cochran's Woodyard Landing, and Evans' Landing.

The earliest inhabitants were a band of river pirates, who settled here after being driven off Spanish soil west of the Mississippi River, near the pirate ambush spot of Tower Rock. This outlaw settlement was destroyed by the United States Army dragoons in 1803. A subsequent settler was a man named Walker, who is the namesake of Walker Hill.

Grand Tower once hosted a Russian Orthodox Church. Other nearby southern Illinois villages with Orthodox churches included St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Church in Benld, Buckner, and Dowell.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Grand Tower, 1855 to 1947

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Grand Tower post office opens
  3. 1871Born hereIke Morgan is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1927In the archiveAfter levee break 10 miles-Grand Tower, Ill
  6. 1936In the archiveIllinois - Edwardsville through
  7. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Grand Tower, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1930s4 items
After levee break 10 miles-Grand Tower, Ill1927After levee break 10 miles-Grand Tower, Ill10 miles below Grand Tower, Illinois, just after the levee broke192710 miles below Grand Tower, Illinois, just after the …After levee break 10 miles--Grand Tower, Ill1927After levee break 10 miles--Grand Tower, IllIllinois - Edwardsville through1936Illinois - Edwardsville through
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
Today9 recent
Tower Rock Mississippi River low water October 20222022Tower Rock Mississippi River low water October 2022Grand Tower, Illinois, United Methodist Church2015Grand Tower, Illinois, United Methodist ChurchGrand Tower, Illinois, Shawnee Elementary School, North2015Grand Tower, Illinois, Shawnee Elementary School, Nor…Grand Tower, Illinois, Front Street2015Grand Tower, Illinois, Front StreetGrand Tower, Illinois, First United Presbyterian Church2015Grand Tower, Illinois, First United Presbyterian Chur…Grand Tower, Illinois, Devil's Backbone Park sign2015Grand Tower, Illinois, Devil's Backbone Park signGrand Tower Pipeline Bridge, view from Illinois highway 1662015Grand Tower Pipeline Bridge, view from Illinois highw…Grand Tower Energy Center, near Grand Tower, Illinois along the Mississippi River from Illinois highway 1572015Grand Tower Energy Center, near Grand Tower, Illinois…Grand Tower Energy Center, near Grand Tower, Illinois along the Mississippi River2007Grand Tower Energy Center, near Grand Tower, Illinois…
On the map

Grand Tower on the map, 1947 to 1990

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

Grand Tower on the 1947 USGS mapGrand Tower on the 1990 USGS map1947Gorham sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Grand Tower.

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.

After levee break 10 miles-Grand Tower, Ill
Retake this viewAfter levee break 10 miles-Grand Tower, Ill, 1927

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Grand Tower

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
first listed
1979
Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transport…
Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transportation Company Site
Sites
Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transportation Company SiteSite

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

People over time

Grand Tower, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,043

Between 479 and 1,043 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Grand Tower’s history

What year was Grand Tower founded?

The Grand Tower post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Grand Tower?

One place: the Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transportation Company Site (listed 1979).

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 (11), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.