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History · Lisbon Township

Lisbon Township’s post office opened in 1836, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1880.

1836first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lisbon Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lisbon Township began

When was Lisbon Township founded?

1836

The Lisbon Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Whitewillow (1863), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 216 in 18802020 census: 771190 years
Founding year: the first Lisbon Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lisbon 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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Lisbon Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1836: 190 years of Lisbon Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lisbon Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lisbon 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 photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewCongregational Church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Whitewillow, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
CentralLisbon CenterSaratogaWhite Willow
Gone or out of use
Booth SchoolschoolCentral QuarrymineWeeks SchoolschoolWhite Willow Schoolschool

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

Timeline

Lisbon Township, 1863 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1863Post officeThe Whitewillow post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Post officeThe Whitewillow post office closes
  5. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Lisbon Township, in brief

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

Lisbon is a village in Kendall County, Illinois, United States. The population was 271 at the 2020 census. The community was established in 1836 with a log tavern and a highway connecting Joliet to Chicago Road. This led to the addition of a post office, an enterprise, and a schoolhouse. The town became part of Kendall County in 1841. John Moore is credited with naming Lisbon Township after Lisbon, Portugal. According to Joseph R. Adams in the May 28, 1896, edition of the Kendall County News, "Though ten miles from a railroad, the villagers appear not wanting. They appear to be living better and happier than those differently situated." Lisbon is now home to Lisbon Consolidated School, the …

Its first post office opened in 1836. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 899 to 771 (-14%).

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

By decade

Lisbon Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Congregational ChurchDate?Congregational Church
On the map

Lisbon Township on the map, 1953 to 1993

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

Lisbon Township on the 1953 USGS mapLisbon Township on the 1973 USGS mapLisbon Township on the 1993 USGS map1953Plattville 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 Lisbon 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.

Congregational Church
Retake this viewCongregational Church

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lisbon Township, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 285

Between 145 and 285 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Seward TownshipIts storyC−Saratoga TownshipIts storyC−Big Grove TownshipIts storyB+PlattvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKendall Township1 historic placeC+

Questions about Lisbon Township’s history

What year was Lisbon Township founded?

The Lisbon Township post office opened in 1836, 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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.