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History · Joshua Township

Joshua Township’s post office opened in 1892, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Duvall-Ash Farmstead.

1892first post office
1on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Joshua Township began

When was Joshua Township founded?

1892

The Joshua Township post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Bybee (1881) and Joshua (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 465134 years
Founding year: the first Joshua Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Joshua 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 Joshua Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Joshua Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Joshua Township’s homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Joshua Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Joshua 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
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.

Fiatt
1843–today
Bybee
1881–1887
Joshua
1892–1894
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BybeeFiatt
Gone or out of use
Brick Fiatt SchoolschoolBrokaw SchoolschoolBybee StationlocaleCraig SchoolschoolFiatt Scott SchoolschoolHipple SchoolschoolJones SchoolschoolLocust Lane Evangelical Lutheran ChurchchurchLone Elm SchoolschoolRandolph SchoolschoolSeller MinemineSunnyside Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Joshua Township
BybeeBybee StationFiattGardinerLocust LaneMoore

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

The story so far

Joshua Township, in brief

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

Joshua Township is one of twenty-six townships in Fulton County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 465 and it contained 192 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1892. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 510 to 465 (-9%).

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

Timeline

Joshua Township, 1843 to 1894

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1843Post officeThe Fiatt post office opens
  3. 1848BuiltDuvall-Ash Farmstead is built
  4. 1881Post officeThe Bybee post office opens
  5. 1887Post officeThe Bybee post office closes
  6. 1892Post officeThe Joshua post office opens
  7. 1894Post officeThe Joshua post office closes
By decade

Joshua Township, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Joshua Township Hall 2026-09-052026Joshua Township Hall 2026-09-05Fiatt grain terminal 2026-09-052026Fiatt grain terminal 2026-09-05
On the National Register

1 historic place in Joshua Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1993
Duvall-Ash Farmstead
Duvall-Ash Farmstead, built 1848
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
Late Victorian1
All 1 listings
Duvall-Ash FarmsteadBuilding · listed 1993

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Putman TownshipIts storyB−Deerfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCanton Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFairview TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Joshua Township’s history

What year was Joshua Township founded?

The Joshua Township post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Joshua Township?

One place: the Duvall-Ash Farmstead (listed 1993).

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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.