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History · Leaf River

Leaf River’s post office opened in 1844, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1890.

1844first post office
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) · CC BY 2.5
Quick answers

How Leaf River began

When was Leaf River founded?

1844

The Leaf River post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1882.

First census: 339 in 18902020 census: 432182 years
Founding year: the first Leaf River post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1882.

What stands out about Leaf River’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 Leaf River are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 637 in 1980; 432 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Leaf River’s homes were built before 1950.Deep rootsA post office since 1844: 182 years of Leaf River.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Leaf River’s collection

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

Leaf River, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 637

Peaked at 637 in 1980; 432 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story so far

Leaf River, in brief

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

Leaf River is a village in Leaf River Township, Ogle County, Illinois, United States, along a stream of the same name. As of the 2020 census, Leaf River had a population of 432.

Its first post office opened in 1844. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 443 to 432 (-2%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Leaf River in 1900

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

Mr. Marshall was engaged in farming in Leaf River township for a number of years and during five years conducted a butcher shop in Leaf River, doing the butchering himself at his home and hireing a man in Leaf River to run the shop.
Mount Morris1900 · page 291Read the page →
Read the text

Mr. Marshall was engaged in farming in Leaf River township for a number of years and during five years conducted a butcher shop in Leaf River, doing the butchering himself at his home and hireing a man in Leaf River to run the shop.

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

Leaf River, 1844 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1844Post officeThe Leaf River post office opens
  3. 1848Post officeThe Leaf River post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Leaf River post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1922On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 637
By decade

Leaf River, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Leaf 622024Leaf 62FEMA - 44923 - Damaged wheelchair in a flood damaged home in Illinois2010FEMA - 44923 - Damaged wheelchair in a flood damaged …Leaf River, IL Sign 012007Leaf River, IL Sign 01Leaf River, IL Post Office2007Leaf River, IL Post OfficeLeaf River, IL Fire Dept 012007Leaf River, IL Fire Dept 01
On the map

Leaf River on the map in 1922

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Leaf River.

Leaf River on the 1922 USGS map1922Oregon 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 Leaf River.

Famous people

Famous people close to Leaf River

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

See all →
Carl BarksAmerican cartoonist · b. 1901
Albert SpaldingAmerican pitcher, manager, and business executi… · b. 1850
Mary Frances Winston NewsonAmerican mathematician · b. 1869
Ralph Waldo TrineAmerican author · b. 1866
Frank WhiteAmerican politician · b. 1856
Harry Leon WilsonAmerican novelist · b. 1867
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Leaf River had its own post office from 1844 to 1848.

Leaf River
1844–1848
Leaf River
1881–today
18401930today

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

Questions about Leaf River’s history

What year was Leaf River founded?

The Leaf River post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1882.

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 (5), 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.