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Cloud properties in downtown McLeansboroPhoto: Nyttend · Public domain
A−History
History · McLeansboro Township

McLeansboro Township’s post office opened in 1824, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #135 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 14 old photos and papers, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1850.

1824first post office
4on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
14old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From McLeansboro Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How McLeansboro Township began

When was McLeansboro Township founded?

1824

The McLeansboro Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hoodville (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 221 in 18502020 census: 3,650202 years

How historic is McLeansboro Township?

A−

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first McLeansboro Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives McLeansboro Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, McLeansboro Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #135 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of McLeansboro Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1824, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194017.9% of homes (±6.6) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register4 listings, 11.0 per 10,000 residents · typical IL town 0.5 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 85%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 83%

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 McLeansboro Township’s 11.0 sits above most of its state (84% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 McLeansboro Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos14 old photos, postcards and papers, 1917–1937.Deep rootsA post office since 1824: 202 years of McLeansboro Township.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.Old housesHalf of McLeansboro Township’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · By decade

McLeansboro Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s14 items
Illinois - Mascoutah through1917Illinois - Mascoutah throughIllinois - Mascoutah through1917Illinois - Mascoutah throughSouthern Illinois character. McLeansboro, Illinois1937Southern Illinois character. McLeansboro, IllinoisRandall Galson's farmhouse near McLeansboro, Illinois1937Randall Galson's farmhouse near McLeansboro, IllinoisCorn with bare spots near McLeansboro, Illinois1937Corn with bare spots near McLeansboro, IllinoisA farmer in his toolhouse, near McLeansboro, Illinois1937A farmer in his toolhouse, near McLeansboro, IllinoisType of automobile owned by many southern Illinois farmers. McLeansboro, Illinois1937Type of automobile owned by many southern Illinois fa…Backporch of Randall Golsom's farm near McLeansboro, Illinois1937Backporch of Randall Golsom's farm near McLeansboro, …Oscar Gaither, tenant farmer, chopping wood near McLeansboro, Illinois1937Oscar Gaither, tenant farmer, chopping wood near McLe…The back porch of Oscar Gaither's farmhouse near McLeansboro, Illinois1937The back porch of Oscar Gaither's farmhouse near McLe…Oscar Gaither, tenant farmer near McLeansboro, Illinois, feeding his pigs1937Oscar Gaither, tenant farmer near McLeansboro, Illino…A group of flood refugees on the streets of McLeansboro, Illinois1937A group of flood refugees on the streets of McLeansbo…Flood refugee from the Wabash River bottoms brought to McLeansboro, Illinois1937Flood refugee from the Wabash River bottoms brought t…Oscar Gaither, tenant farmer, near McLeansboro, Illinois, hoisting water from his well1937Oscar Gaither, tenant farmer, near McLeansboro, Illin…
1940s–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
Cloud State Bank in2012Cloud State Bank inChalon Guard and Emma Blades Cloud House2012Chalon Guard and Emma Blades Cloud HouseAaron G. Cloud House2012Aaron G. Cloud House
Timeline

McLeansboro Township, 1871 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Hoodville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902Post officeThe Hoodville post office closes
  5. 1917In the archiveIllinois - Mascoutah through
  6. 1937In the archiveSouthern Illinois character. McLeansboro, Illinois
  7. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the National Register

4 historic places in McLeansboro Township

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts

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

The story

How McLeansboro Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of McLeansboro Township.

Read it all →

The city was named for Dr. William McLean, an early settler who had resided there in 1821.

On September 26, 1911 one of the first air mail deliveries was made to McLeansboro by pilot Horace Kearney. In 1940 a post office lobby mural was commissioned honoring the event, depicting a plane flying over a grassy field surrounded by circus tents and residents of McLeansboro.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the map

McLeansboro Township on the map, 1942 to 1974

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

McLeansboro Township on the 1942 USGS mapMcLeansboro Township on the 1974 USGS map1942McLeansboro 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 McLeansboro 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 - Mascoutah through
Retake this viewIllinois - Mascoutah through, 1917

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

McLeansboro Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001850190019502000Peak: 3,008

Between 221 and 3,008 people in every census since 1850.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Hoodville
Gone or out of use
Anderson SchoolschoolOpossum CreekschoolSulphur Springs SchoolschoolSutton SchoolschoolWeldin SchoolschoolWhite Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside McLeansboro Township
CriselGlenview Memorial GardensHutsonPresleyUnion Hall

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

Help out

Finish McLeansboro Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewIllinois - Mascoutah through: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Knight Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCrook TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTwigg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSouth Crouch TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about McLeansboro Township’s history

What year was McLeansboro Township founded?

The McLeansboro Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does McLeansboro Township rank for history?

McLeansboro Township is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #135 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 McLeansboro Township?

18% of McLeansboro Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1958.

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 (5), the Library of Congress (12), Wikidata (1), 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.