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History · Keene Township

Keene Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

1857first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Keene Township began

When was Keene Township founded?

1857

The Keene Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Woodville (1837) and Keene (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 595169 years
Founding year: the first Keene Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Keene 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 Keene Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Keene Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Keene Township’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Keene Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Keene 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.

Woodville
1837–1903
Keene
1857–1866
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Woodville
Gone or out of use
Hartman SchoolschoolHemming Landing StripairportLoraine QuarrymineMealiff Landing StripairportPrairie SchoolschoolPryor SchoolschoolTexas SchoolschoolUnion SchoolschoolWashington Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Keene Township
CurlessWoodville

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

The story so far

Keene Township, in brief

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

Keene Township is one of twenty-two townships in Adams County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 595 and it contained 268 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1857. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 604 in 2010, 595 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Keene Township, 1837 to 1903

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Woodville post office opens
  3. 1857Post officeThe Keene post office opens
  4. 1866Post officeThe Keene post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Woodville post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
Famous people

Famous people close to Keene Township

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

See all →
Judy KoehlerAmerican politician · b. 1941
A. Arnim WhiteUnited States Army general · b. 1889
T
Tesha BussAmerican politician from Vermont
I
Isaac WhitingThird president of The Church of Jesus Christ · b. 1842
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Honey Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLima TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSt. Albans TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHouston Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMendon Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Keene Township’s history

What year was Keene Township founded?

The Keene Township post office opened in 1857, 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 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.