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London Mills BridgeLondon Mills Bridge · Photo: Thomas J. Foley · Public domain
–Not graded
History · London Mills

London Mills’ post office opened in 1875, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the London Mills Bridge. Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1890.

1875first post office
1on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How London Mills began

When was London Mills founded?

1875

The London Mills post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 661 in 18902020 census: 350151 years
Founding year: the first London Mills post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about London Mills’ 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 London Mills are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of London Mills’ homes were built before 1948.On the map since 19153 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1974. Watch London Mills change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start London Mills’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how London Mills’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

London Mills, in brief

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

London Mills is a village in Fulton and Knox counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 350 at the 2020 census. The Fulton County portion of London Mills is part of the Canton Micropolitan Statistical Area and the wider Peoria Consolidated Statistical Area, while the Knox County portion is part of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1875. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 392 to 350 (-11%).

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

On the map

London Mills on the map, 1915 to 1974

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

London Mills on the 1915 USGS mapLondon Mills on the 1944 USGS mapLondon Mills on the 1974 USGS map1915Avon 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 London Mills.

From the old history books

What they wrote about London Mills in 1879

Passages that mention London Mills, cut from the printed page as they were published.

1835, and the first teacher was Mr. Barnes. There is no regularly surveyed town in Young Hickory, yet Midway is a little village of about forty inhabitants, and is situated upon sections 2 and 11. It contains a store, blacksmith-shop and pdsttjffice. London Mills is also another ])ostotiice in this…
History of Fulton county, Illinois1879 · page 970Read the page →
Read the text

1835, and the first teacher was Mr. Barnes. There is no regularly surveyed town in Young Hickory, yet Midway is a little village of about forty inhabitants, and is situated upon sections 2 and 11. It contains a store, blacksmith-shop and pdsttjffice. London Mills is also another ])ostotiice in this township. It is located upon the northwest quarter of section 3. In it are two stores and a blacksmith-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

London Mills, 1875 to 1915

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe London Mills post office opens
  3. 1890Born hereForest Loudin is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

London Mills, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Lady Liberty of2005Lady Liberty of
Every building

London Mills, building by building, 1919

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

London Mills fire insurance map, 1919, sheet 11919Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

1 historic place in London Mills

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
London Mills Bridge
London Mills Bridge
Structures
London Mills BridgeStructure

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

London Mills, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 661

Between 350 and 661 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on London Mills’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

London Mills’s post office has been open since 1875.

Gone or out of use
London Mills Schoolschool

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

Questions about London Mills’ history

What year was London Mills founded?

The London Mills post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in London Mills?

One place: the London Mills Bridge (listed 1980).

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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.