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History · Milks Grove Township

Milks Grove Township’s post office opened in 1876, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 2000.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Milks Grove Township began

When was Milks Grove Township founded?

1876

The Milks Grove Township post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Milk's Grove (1876), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 177 in 20002020 census: 204150 years
Founding year: the first Milks Grove Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Milks Grove 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 Milks Grove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Milks Grove Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Milks Grove Township, in brief

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

Milks Grove Township is one of twenty-six townships in Iroquois County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 204 and it contained 75 housing units. Milks Grove Township formed from a portion of Chebanse Township on an unknown date, but before 1921. Milks Grove is named for the late 19th-century midwestern land speculator Lemuel Milk.

Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 214 to 204 (-5%).

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

Timeline

Milks Grove Township, 1876 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Milk's Grove post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1931Post officeThe Milk's Grove post office closes
  5. 1944On 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.
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On the map

Milks Grove Township on the map, 1944 to 1998

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

Milks Grove Township on the 1944 USGS mapMilks Grove Township on the 1986 USGS mapMilks Grove Township on the 1998 USGS map1944Piper City 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 Milks Grove Township.

People over time

Milks Grove Township, census by census

010020020002020Peak: 214

Between 177 and 214 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Milks Grove Township

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

See all →
A
Arnold BeckmanAmerican chemist · b. 1900
J
Joseph ZellerAmerican politician in Pennsylvania · b. 1918
D
Dennis Edward SpiesAmerican Catholic bishop · b. 1968
F
Frank GriffithAmerican baseball player · b. 1872
A
Arch WardAmerican journalist · b. 1896
B
Big Moose MeyerAmerican professional basketball player · b. 1910
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Milk's Grove, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Adams SchoolschoolDuckworth SchoolschoolHenley SchoolschoolJackson SchoolschoolMilks Grove ChurchchurchPearson SchoolschoolPorter AirportairportWade SchoolschoolWadleigh SchoolschoolWalker Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Milks Grove Township
Milk's 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.

Ashkum TownshipIts storyB−Chebanse TownshipIts storyC+Pilot TownshipIts storyBRogers TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Milks Grove Township’s history

What year was Milks Grove Township founded?

The Milks Grove Township post office opened in 1876, 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 →
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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, 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.