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History · Highland Township

35% of Highland Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Highland Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Highland 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Highland Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Highland Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHighland Brewing Company: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Highland Township, in brief

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

Highland Township is one of seventeen townships in Grundy County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 256 and it contained 121 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 288 to 256 (-11%).

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

Timeline

Highland Township, 1866 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Post officeThe Highland Town post office opens
  3. 1876Post officeThe Highland Town post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveHighland Brewing Company
  6. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Highland Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Highland Brewing Company1900Highland Brewing Company
1910s–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
On the map

Highland Township on the map, 1958 to 1991

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

Highland Township on the 1958 USGS mapHighland Township on the 1983 USGS mapHighland Township on the 1991 USGS map1958Odell 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 Highland 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.

Highland Brewing Company
Retake this viewHighland Brewing Company, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Highland Township, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 332

Between 256 and 332 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Highland Township

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

See all →
Franklin Sumner EarleAmerican mycologist · b. 1856
Frank Leslie SmithAmerican politician · b. 1867
Mabel TrunnelleAmerican actress · b. 1879
James G. StrongAmerican politician · b. 1870
M
Mary MorelloAmerican activist · b. 1923
Lewis M. LongAmerican politician · b. 1883
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Highland Town, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Highland Town
Gone or out of use
Scott SchoollocaleVickery Schoolschool

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.

Goodfarm TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVienna TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAllen Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNevada TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Highland Township’s history

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 the Library of Congress (1), 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.