The Medina Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, La Salle (1832), Alta (1873) and Medina (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 13,976153 years
How historic is Medina Township?
D
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Medina Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Medina Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Medina Township is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #699 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Medina Township’s overall grade.
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 Medina Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. 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 Medina Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Medina Township
La SalleMooneyRobinson
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Medina Township on the map, 1893 to 1996
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Medina Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1893Dunlap 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 Medina Township.
The story so far
Medina Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Medina Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Medina Township is located north of Peoria, in Peoria County, Illinois, and in the Illinois River Valley (West of the river itself). As of the 2010 census, its population was 12,564 and it contained 4,993 housing units. Medina Township changed its name from Franklin Township on an unknown date, but most likely in 1850. Headquartered in Mossville, it is served by two school districts: Illinois Valley Central School District #321, and Dunlap School District #323. It also contains the census-designated place of Rome and much of the city of Peoria's Alta neighborhood.
Its first post office opened in 1873. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 12,564 to 13,976 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Medina Township, 1832 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Medina Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Medina Township rank for history?
Medina Township is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #699 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 Medina Township?
0.4% of Medina Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 2000.
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 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.
