Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Manchester Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Manchester Township

41% of Manchester Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1918 on.

0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Manchester 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 Manchester Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19184 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1993. Watch Manchester Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Manchester Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manchester Township’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
On the map

Manchester Township on the map, 1918 to 1993

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

Manchester Township on the 1918 USGS mapManchester Township on the 1944 USGS mapManchester Township on the 1970 USGS mapManchester Township on the 1993 USGS map1918Belvidere 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 Manchester Township.

The story so far

Manchester Township, in brief

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

Manchester Township is one of nine townships in Boone County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 871 and it contained 380 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 895 to 871 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Manchester Township, 1842 to 1918

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1842Post officeThe Hunter post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Hunter post office closes
  5. 1918On 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.
Add from your album
Famous people

Famous people close to Manchester Township

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

See all →
Danica PatrickAmerican racecar driver · b. 1982
Roy Chapman AndrewsAmerican explorer, naturalist, and writer · b. 1884
B
Bessica Medlar RaicheAmerican aviator, dentist, and physician · b. 1875
Robin ZanderAmerican singer and guitarist · b. 1953
Travis FrederickAmerican football player · b. 1991
J
Juan Conway McNabbFirst bishop of the Diocese of Chulucanas in th… · b. 1925
Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Hunter
Gone or out of use
Bamblett SchoolschoolBooth SchoolschoolCarpenter SchoolschoolFish SchoolschoolGray SchoolschoolHunter Post Officepost officeNemec AirportairportRed Brick Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Manchester Township
BamblettForest HillLivingstonOak 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.

Caledonia TownshipIts storyC−LeRoy TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRoscoe Township1 historic placeB−

Questions about Manchester Township’s history

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 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.