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History · Mills Township

Half of Mills Township’s homes were built after 1997

Most of Mills Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1932 on.

0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Mills 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 Mills Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mills Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mills Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Beavercreek
1849–1953
Dudleyville
1861–1902
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Beaver CreekDudleyville
Gone or out of use
Drake SchoolschoolHarris SchoolschoolHunter SchoolschoolKeyesport PitmineMetcalf SchoolschoolMount Carmel ChurchchurchPotts Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mills Township
GreeneWeinheimerWisetown

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

The story so far

Mills Township, in brief

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

Mills Township is one of nine townships in Bond County, Illinois, US. As of the 2020 census, its population was 473 and it contained 219 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 552 to 473 (-14%).

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

Timeline

Mills Township, 1849 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Beavercreek post office opens
  3. 1861Post officeThe Dudleyville post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Dudleyville post office closes
  6. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1953Post officeThe Beavercreek post office closes
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

Mills Township on the map, 1932 to 1974

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

Mills Township on the 1932 USGS mapMills Township on the 1943 USGS mapMills Township on the 1974 USGS map1932Greenville 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 Mills Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Tamalco TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBurgess TownshipIts storyB−Wheatfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCentral Township2 historic placesB+

Questions about Mills Township’s history

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, 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.