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History · Lee Center Township

Lee Center Township’s post office opened in 1894, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1952 on.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lee Center Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lee Center Township began

When was Lee Center Township founded?

1894

The Lee Center Township post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Inlet (1836), Lee Centre (1847) and Shaw (1875), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 568132 years
Founding year: the first Lee Center Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lee Center 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lee Center Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lee Center Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewDr. Adams Office, Old Dixon-Chicago Pike: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Inlet
1836–1847
Lee Centre
1847–1894
Shaw
1875–1904
Lee Center
1894–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
InletLee CenterShaws
Gone or out of use
Bernardin Landing StripairportInlet QuarrymineShaw Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lee Center Township
InletWoodside

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

The story so far

Lee Center Township, in brief

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

Lee Center is an unincorporated community in Lee County, Illinois, United States, located 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Dixon. As of the 2020 census, Lee Center had a population of 146. Lee Center first appeared as a census designated place in the 2020 U.S. census.

Its first post office opened in 1894. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 593 to 568 (-4%).

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

Timeline

Lee Center Township, 1836 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1836Post officeThe Inlet post office opens
  3. 1847Post officeThe Inlet post office closes
  4. 1847Post officeThe Lee Centre post office opens
  5. 1875Post officeThe Shaw post office opens
  6. 1894Post officeThe Lee Centre post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1904Post officeThe Shaw post office closes
  9. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lee Center Township, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
Dr. Adams Office, Old Dixon-Chicago PikeDate?Dr. Adams Office, Old Dixon-Chicago PikeFour Bottle Tavern, Old Dixon-Chicago PikeDate?Four Bottle Tavern, Old Dixon-Chicago Pike
On the map

Lee Center Township on the map, 1952 to 1982

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

Lee Center Township on the 1952 USGS mapLee Center Township on the 1982 USGS map1952Mendota 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 Lee Center Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Dr. Adams Office, Old Dixon-Chicago Pike
Retake this viewDr. Adams Office, Old Dixon-Chicago Pike

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lee Center Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Amboy Township1 historic placeB+Bradford TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSublette TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townViola Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lee Center Township’s history

What year was Lee Center Township founded?

The Lee Center Township post office opened in 1894, 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 →
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 the Library of Congress (2), 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.