Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Irvington Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C+History
History · Irvington Township

Irvington Township’s post office opened in 1862, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 45% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1880.

1862first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Irvington Township began

When was Irvington Township founded?

1862

The Irvington Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Grand Point (1842) and Nolting (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 221 in 18802020 census: 1,181164 years

How historic is Irvington Township?

C+

More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Irvington Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Irvington Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Irvington Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Irvington Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1862, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194024.3% of homes (±7.0) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 45%
NewerOlder

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 Irvington Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.0 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 Irvington 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 writtenNo old photos of Irvington Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 827 in 1990; 581 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Irvington Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Irvington Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Irvington Township’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

Irvington Township, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 827

Peaked at 827 in 1990; 581 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Grand Point
1842–1849
Nolting
1893–1918
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AldaNoltings
Gone or out of use
Atherton SchoolschoolBend SchoolschoolClover Hill SchoolschoolFulton SchoolschoolGrand Point ChurchchurchGrand Point SchoolschoolHewette SchoolschoolIrvington North Oil FieldoilfieldIrvington Oil FieldoilfieldJohnson SchoolschoolMaple Grove ChurchchurchMathis AirportairportTaylor Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Irvington Township
Grand PointHarresIrvington

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

The story so far

Irvington Township, in brief

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

Irvington is a village in Washington County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Irvington had a population of 581.

Its first post office opened in 1862. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,285 to 1,181 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Irvington Township, 1842 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1842Post officeThe Grand Point post office opens
  3. 1849Post officeThe Grand Point post office closes
  4. 1893Post officeThe Nolting post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1918Post officeThe Nolting post office closes
  7. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 827
By decade

Irvington Township, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Irvington Illinois Ruritan Community Building2015Irvington Illinois Ruritan Community BuildingIrvington Illinois Grade School2015Irvington Illinois Grade SchoolFortmeyer Memorial Park2015Fortmeyer Memorial Park
On the map

Irvington Township on the map, 1943 to 1974

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

Irvington Township on the 1943 USGS mapIrvington Township on the 1974 USGS map1943Ashley 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 Irvington Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Brookside TownshipIts storyCRichview TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHoyleton TownshipIts storyB−WamacIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCentralia Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBeaucoup TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Irvington Township’s history

What year was Irvington Township founded?

The Irvington Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Irvington Township rank for history?

Irvington Township is more historic than 45% 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 Irvington Township?

24% of Irvington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1973.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.