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History · La Clede Township

La Clede Township’s post office opened in 1859, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on.

1859first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How La Clede Township began

When was La Clede Township founded?

1859

The La Clede Township post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Dismal Creek (1857) and La Clede (1859), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 844167 years
Founding year: the first La Clede Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about La Clede 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 La Clede Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s La Clede Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start La Clede Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Clede Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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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.

Dismal Creek
1857–1859
La Clede
1859–1980
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
La Clede
Gone or out of use
Maple Grove SchoolschoolWolf Schoolschool
1cemetery inside La Clede Township
Farina

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

The story so far

La Clede Township, in brief

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

La Clede is an unincorporated community in La Clede Township, Fayette County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, La Clede had a population of 113. The community was named after Pierre Laclède, a French fur trader.

Its first post office opened in 1859. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 909 to 844 (-7%).

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

Timeline

La Clede Township, 1857 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Dismal Creek post office opens
  3. 1859Post officeThe Dismal Creek post office closes
  4. 1859Post officeThe La Clede post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1980Post officeThe La Clede post office closes
  7. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

La Clede Township on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Clede Township.

La Clede Township on the 1985 USGS map1985Kinmundy 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 La Clede Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lone Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLarkinsburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMeacham TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWest TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about La Clede Township’s history

What year was La Clede Township founded?

The La Clede Township post office opened in 1859, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.