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History · Maroa Township

Maroa Township’s post office opened in 1855, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1870.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Maroa Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Maroa Township began

When was Maroa Township founded?

1855

The Maroa Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Emery (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 766 in 18702020 census: 1,867171 years
Founding year: the first Maroa Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Maroa 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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Maroa Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewIllinois Central Depot in Maroa, IIllin…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Maroa Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Maroa Township.

Read it all →

The first settler of the township was James Pettyjohn, who came from Kentucky and settled in 1839. The next group of settlers came from Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee. The first schoolhouse was built in 1852. Maroa at one time was the second largest township, besides county seat Decatur, as it sat at the junction of both the Illinois Central Railroad and the Midland Railroad Company.

Maroa was officially incorporated as a town on March 7, 1867.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Maroa Township, 1879 to 1981

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Emery post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Post officeThe Emery post office closes
  5. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1981In the archiveIllinois Central Depot in Maroa, IIllinos, Nov. 1981 -- Amazing
By decade

Maroa Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s1 item
Illinois Central Depot in Maroa, IIllinos, Nov. 1981 -- Amazing1981Illinois Central Depot in Maroa, IIllinos, Nov. 1981 …
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
Today3 recent
Maroa-Forsyth high school2025Maroa-Forsyth high schoolMaroa Illinois aerial view2025Maroa Illinois aerial viewMf-high-school2015Mf-high-school
On the map

Maroa Township on the map, 1957 to 1998

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

Maroa Township on the 1957 USGS mapMaroa Township on the 1979 USGS mapMaroa Township on the 1998 USGS map1957Maroa 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 Maroa 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.

Illinois Central Depot in Maroa, IIllinos, Nov. 1981 -- Amazing
Retake this viewIllinois Central Depot in Maroa, IIllinos, Nov. 1981 -- Amazing, 1981

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Maroa Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,801

Between 766 and 1,801 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Emery
Gone or out of use
Fair Play SchoolschoolPleasant Valley SchoolschoolUpper Ridge Schoollocale
1cemetery inside Maroa Township
Wrights Grove

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.

Austin TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTexas TownshipIts storyC+Hickory Point TownshipIts storyC−Friends Creek TownshipIts storyBTunbridge TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Maroa Township’s history

What year was Maroa Township founded?

The Maroa Township post office opened in 1855, 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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, 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.