The Menominee Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Excelsior Mills (1861), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 138 in 19402020 census: 1,035141 years
How historic is Menominee Township?
C
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Menominee Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Menominee Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Menominee Township is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Menominee 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 Menominee 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 C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.8 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 Menominee Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Menominee Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Menominee is a village in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States. The population was 211 at the 2020 census. The village is located on the Little Menominee River near East Dubuque and Galena. The village derives its name from the Menominee indigenous peoples.
Its first post office opened in 1885. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,122 to 1,035 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Menominee Township, 1861 to 1955
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Menominee Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1955Menominee sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Menominee Township.
People over time
Menominee Township, census by census
Between 132 and 248 people in every census since 1940.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Menominee Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
Famous people close to Menominee Township
Nobody well known was born in Menominee Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Menominee Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Menominee Township rank for history?
Menominee Township is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns. 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 Menominee Township?
13% of Menominee Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (1), 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.
2005
