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History · Indianola

Indianola’s post office opened in 1850, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1880.

1850first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Omnedon · Public domain
Quick answers

How Indianola began

When was Indianola founded?

1850

The Indianola post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 308 in 18802020 census: 227176 years
Founding year: the first Indianola post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Indianola’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 Indianola are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 472 in 1890; 227 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Indianola’s collection

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

Indianola, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 472

Peaked at 472 in 1890; 227 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Indianola, in brief

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

Indianola is a village in Carroll Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Danville, Illinois metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Indianola had a population of 227.

Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 276 to 227 (-18%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Indianola in 1930

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

Wilbur W. Gibbs was educated in the public schools of Indianola, where he has spent practically his entire life. He became a clerk in his father's store after his graduation from Indianola High School, and later purchased his father's share in the business. The store was finally sold to Fred Gibbs …
History of Vermilion County, Illinois1930 · page 796Read the page →
Read the text

Wilbur W. Gibbs was educated in the public schools of Indianola, where he has spent practically his entire life. He became a clerk in his father's store after his graduation from Indianola High School, and later purchased his father's share in the business. The store was finally sold to Fred Gibbs and Wilbur W. Gibbs became interested in the breeding of pure bred Poland China hogs on his farm of eighty acres near Indianola. He continued in that work

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.

Timeline

Indianola, 1850 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Indianola post office opens
  3. 1890CensusPopulation peaks at 472
  4. 20th century
  5. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Indianola, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Indianola Illinois2007Indianola IllinoisIndianola Illinois water tower2007Indianola Illinois water tower
On the map

Indianola on the map, 1966 to 1986

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

Indianola on the 1966 USGS mapIndianola on the 1986 USGS map1966Georgetown 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 Indianola.

Questions about Indianola’s history

What year was Indianola founded?

The Indianola post office opened in 1850, 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 (2), 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.