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History · Hull

Hull’s post office opened in 1871, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1871first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Hull began

When was Hull founded?

1871

The Hull post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 392155 years
Founding year: the first Hull post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Hull’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 Hull are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Hull’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hull’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Hull, in brief

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

Hull is a village in Pike County, Illinois, United States. The population was 392 at the 2020 census, a decline from 461 in 2010.

Its first post office opened in 1871. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 461 to 392 (-15%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Hull in 1880

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

This town is located on sec. 21, and at the junction of the Wabash and the Quincy, Alton & St. Louis Railroads. It was laid out in December, 1871, by David Hull, Rensellaer Sweet and William Bridge. It is situated in the midst of one of the finest agricultural districts in the county, and has promi…
History of Pike county, Illinois1880 · page 855Read the page →
Read the text

This town is located on sec. 21, and at the junction of the Wabash and the Quincy, Alton & St. Louis Railroads. It was laid out in December, 1871, by David Hull, Rensellaer Sweet and William Bridge. It is situated in the midst of one of the finest agricultural districts in the county, and has promise of making a nice local town.

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

Hull, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Hull, Illinois - downtown block and park2024Hull, Illinois - downtown block and parkHull, Illinois - community garden2024Hull, Illinois - community gardenHull, Illinois - civic buildings2024Hull, Illinois - civic buildingsHull, Illinois - church building2024Hull, Illinois - church buildingHull, Illinois - abandoned buildings2024Hull, Illinois - abandoned buildingsHull, Illinois - Bob Colgrove Memorial Park2024Hull, Illinois - Bob Colgrove Memorial Park
Famous people

Famous people close to Hull

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

See all →
Margaret BrownSurvivor of the sinking of the Titanic (1867–19… · b. 1867
Walter A. ShewhartAmerican statistical quality control expert · b. 1891
Cliff EdwardsAmerican recording artist; musician, singer, ac… · b. 1895
George PoageAmerican hurdler and sprinter · b. 1880
James Carroll BeckwithAmerican painter · b. 1852
Cotton FitzsimmonsAmerican basketball coach · b. 1931

Questions about Hull’s history

What year was Hull founded?

The Hull post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.