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History · Grantfork

Grantfork dates to 1837, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1937 on and the census since 1900.

1837founded
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Grantfork began

When was Grantfork founded?

1837

Grantfork dates its founding to 1837 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 151 in 19002020 census: 341189 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1869.The full story ↓

What stands out about Grantfork’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 Grantfork are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.Deep rootsEstablished in 1837: 189 years of Grantfork.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Grantfork’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grantfork’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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People over time

Grantfork, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020222 in 1920Low: 80

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Timeline

Grantfork, 1837 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837
    FoundingGrantfork is established
  3. 1869Post officeThe Grantfork post office opens
  4. 1885Born hereRube Peters is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1918Post officeThe Grantfork post office closes
  7. 1937On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 21st century
  9. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 341
The story

How Grantfork came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grantfork.

Read it all →

The settlement was platted as Fitz-James Crossing in 1837 and recorded as Fitz-James in 1840. A new plat filed in 1866 named it Saline. In 1870, postal authorities required a different post-office name because another Illinois community already used Saline. Residents chose Grantfork to honor President Ulysses S. Grant and to refer to the settlement's location at a fork of two creeks.

The village was incorporated under the legal name Saline on February 18, 1886. Although the post office and local newspapers used Grantfork, county and state documents continued to use Saline until the village's legal name was later changed.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Grantfork in 1912

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

township. About one-sixth of the northern part of Highland is in Saline township, all built up since the advent of the railroad. The village of Saline (Grantfork postoffice), lies on the township line in about equal parts in Saline and Leef townships. The same being the case in Pierron, which is pa…
Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 19121912 · page 604Read the page →
Read the text

township. About one-sixth of the northern part of Highland is in Saline township, all built up since the advent of the railroad. The village of Saline (Grantfork postoffice), lies on the township line in about equal parts in Saline and Leef townships. The same being the case in Pierron, which is partly in the township and Bond county.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Brothers, John, Conrad and Stephen. John afterwards became sole owner, and having succeeded in getting a post office for the place, then called Grantfork, was its first postmas¬ ter, as well as the most active promoter of the town. He closed his store in 1874, retiring from business, and moved to L…
Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 19121912 · page 605Read the page →
Read the text

Brothers, John, Conrad and Stephen. John afterwards became sole owner, and having succeeded in getting a post office for the place, then called Grantfork, was its first postmas¬ ter, as well as the most active promoter of the town. He closed his store in 1874, retiring from business, and moved to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1910. Stephen, in 1862, opened a stone

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.

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

Grantfork on the map, 1937 to 1974

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

Grantfork on the 1937 USGS mapGrantfork on the 1944 USGS mapGrantfork on the 1974 USGS map1937New Douglas 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 Grantfork.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Grantfork had its own post office from 1869 to 1918.

Grantfork
1869–1918
18601940today

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

Questions about Grantfork’s history

What year was Grantfork founded?

In 1837, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Grantfork’s post office opened in 1869, and the census of 1900 counted 151 people here.

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 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), 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.