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History · Lovejoy Township

18% of Lovejoy Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Lovejoy 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 writtenNo old photos of Lovejoy Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Lovejoy Township’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lovejoy Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lovejoy Township’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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The story so far

Lovejoy Township, in brief

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

Lovejoy Township is one of twenty-six townships in Iroquois County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 382 and it contained 174 housing units. Lovejoy Township was formed from a portion of Milford Township on February 19, 1868.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 406 to 382 (-6%).

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

Timeline

Lovejoy Township, 1887 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Hickman post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1930Post officeThe Hickman post office closes
  5. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Lovejoy Township on the map, 1944 to 1964

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

Lovejoy Township on the 1944 USGS mapLovejoy Township on the 1964 USGS map1944Milford 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 Lovejoy Township.

People over time

Lovejoy Township, census by census

010020030040020002020Peak: 406

Between 382 and 406 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Lovejoy Township

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

See all →
Jessie SumnerAmerican politician · b. 1898
J
Jean HixsonAmerican aviator · b. 1922
Thad MattaAmerican basketball player-coach · b. 1967
Tom HamiltonAmerican football player · b. 1905
Frankie GustineAmerican baseball player · b. 1920
C
Claude RothgebAmerican football, basketball, and baseball pla… · b. 1880
Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
AlonzoHickman
Gone or out of use
Chapman SchoolschoolCissna JunctionlocaleEvans SchoolschoolGay Creek SchoolschoolPleasant Valley Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lovejoy Township
AmityFloral Hill

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.

Milford TownshipIts storyB+Prairie Green TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFountain Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrant Township2 historic placesA−

Questions about Lovejoy Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.