The Hanover Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Blanding (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 459 in 18802020 census: 1,203190 years
How historic is Hanover Township?
A
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hanover Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hanover Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hanover Township is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hanover Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Hanover Township’s 9.0 sits above most of its state (82% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Hanover Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Blanding, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
BlandingBrinksburgGriffiths Mobile Home ParkPleasant HillWhittonWoodland Valley Courts
Gone or out of use
Bellevue FerrylocaleEdgarton SchoolschoolLost Mound SchoolschoolNobis SchoolschoolPleasant Hill SchoolschoolSavanna Army Depotmilitary
1cemetery inside Hanover Township
Lost Mound
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
People over time
Hanover Township, census by census
Peaked at 1,643 in 1950; 863 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hanover Township’s Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Hanover Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hanover Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hanover is a village in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States, along the Apple River. The town was previously named Wapello, in honor of Chief Wapello of the Meskwaki tribe. The population was 863 at the 2020 cenus, up from 844 in 2010.
Its first post office opened in 1836. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,201 in 2010, 1,203 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Hanover Township, 1888 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hanover Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Green Island 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 Hanover 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.
Retake this viewSewage Disposal Plant, 1970
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hanover Township’s page.
The Hanover Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hanover Township rank for history?
Hanover Township is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Hanover Township?
36% of Hanover Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1949.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.
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