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LLDPhoto: LisleLibraryDistrict · CC BY-SA 4.0
C+History
History · Lisle Township

Lisle Township dates to 1832

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #496 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Most of Lisle Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1880.

1832founded
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lisle Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lisle Township began

When was Lisle Township founded?

1832

Lisle Township dates its founding to 1832 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 48 in 18802020 census: 119,040194 years

How historic is Lisle Township?

C+

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Lisle Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lisle Township is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #496 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lisle Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1832, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19403.1% of homes (±0.6) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 36%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 35%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Lisle Township ranks #279 on History.

Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lisle Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

Newer cities are common at Lisle Township’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1832.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Lisle 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.On the map since 19087 editions of the USGS map, 1908 to 1993. Watch Lisle Township change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1832: 194 years of Lisle Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lisle Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSt. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage, Domest…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Lisle Township on the map, 1908 to 1993

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

Lisle Township on the 1908 USGS mapLisle Township on the 1948 USGS mapLisle Township on the 1954 USGS mapLisle Township on the 1962 USGS mapLisle Township on the 1972 USGS mapLisle Township on the 1980 USGS mapLisle Township on the 1993 USGS map1908Wheaton 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 Lisle Township.

Timeline

Lisle Township, 1832 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1832
    FoundingLisle Township is established
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1922In the archiveSt. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage, Domestic Science Room, (Male Kucharky) (NBY 4093)
  6. 1979In the archiveAmtrak press train with Superliners at Lisle, October 1979
The story

How Lisle Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lisle Township.

Read it all →

In 1830, Bailey Hobson, a Quaker, was the first settler in what would become DuPage County, Illinois, as well as Lisle Township. The town of Lisle was settled in 1832, by brothers James C. Hatch and Luther A. Hatch after the close of the Black Hawk War. The two brothers acquired land near what is now Ogden Avenue and began a small farming community named "DuPage" or "East DuPage" because, of its proximity to the east branch of the DuPage River.

In 1831, DuPage County was founded. To the west of the Lisle settlement, on the west branch of the DuPage river, brothers Joseph and John Naper founded Naper's Settlement, present-day Naperville, Illinois.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Lisle Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
St. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage, Domestic Science Room, (Male Kucharky) (NBY 4093)1922St. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage, Domestic Science Roo…
1930s–1960snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1970s1 item
Amtrak press train with Superliners at Lisle, October 19791979Amtrak press train with Superliners at Lisle, October…
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today10 recent
Morton arboretum2016Morton arboretumLLD2015LLD20140317 86 Pace Bus, Lisle, Illinois-2201420140317 86 Pace Bus, Lisle, Illinois-2Lisle, IL, USA2012Lisle, IL, USAWürzen-012011Würzen-01Eindecken-012011Eindecken-01Roadway on Railway2010Roadway on RailwayWyndham Lisle - Chicago Hotel & Executive Meeting Center (DuPage County, IL)2008Wyndham Lisle - Chicago Hotel & Executive Meeting Cen…Hyatt Lisle (DuPage County, IL)2008Hyatt Lisle (DuPage County, IL)Sierra Atlantic Lisle office2007Sierra Atlantic Lisle office
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.

St. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage, Domestic Science Room, (Male Kucharky) (NBY 4093)
Retake this viewSt. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage, Domestic Science Room, (Male Kucharky) (NBY 4093), 1922

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lisle Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,0001880190019201940196019802000202024,223

Grew from 48 people in 1880 to 24,223 in 2020, more than tenfold.

8 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Hobson Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lisle Township
BlodgettOak Crest

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Naperville Township2 historic placesB+Downers Grove Township11 historic placesA−Milton Township14 historic placesB+Downers Grove1 historic placeB+Du Page Township1 historic placeB−Bolingbrook1 historic placeDNaperville2 historic placesB+

Questions about Lisle Township’s history

What year was Lisle Township founded?

In 1832, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lisle Township’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1880 counted 48 people here.

How does Lisle Township rank for history?

Lisle Township is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #496 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Lisle Township?

3% of Lisle Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1979.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.