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History · Monroe Center

Monroe Center’s post office opened in 1893, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) · CC BY 2.5
Quick answers

How Monroe Center began

When was Monroe Center founded?

1893

The Monroe Center post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Monroe Centre (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 411133 years
Founding year: the first Monroe Center post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Monroe Center’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 Monroe Center are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Monroe Center’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Monroe Center’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monroe Center’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
The story so far

Monroe Center, in brief

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

Monroe Center is a village in Ogle County, Illinois, United States, southeast of Rockford in Monroe Township. It is located on the Canadian Pacific Railway and on Illinois Route 72, approximately 0.6 mile east of Exit 111 from Interstate 39. As of the 2020 census, Monroe Center had a population of 411.

Its first post office opened in 1893. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 471 to 411 (-13%).

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

Timeline

Monroe Center, 1858 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Monroe Centre post office opens
  3. 1876Born hereCharles W. Baker is born here
  4. 1893Post officeThe Monroe Centre post office closes
  5. 1893Post officeThe Monroe Center post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Monroe Center, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Monroe Center, IL Post Office 012007Monroe Center, IL Post Office 01Monroe Center, IL Fire Dept 012007Monroe Center, IL Fire Dept 01
On the map

Monroe Center on the map, 1954 to 1963

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

Monroe Center on the 1954 USGS mapMonroe Center on the 1963 USGS map1954Rockford sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Monroe Center.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Monroe Center’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Monroe Centre, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Monroe Centre
1858–1893
Monroe Center
1893–today
18501940today
1cemetery inside Monroe Center
Monroe Center

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

Questions about Monroe Center’s history

What year was Monroe Center founded?

The Monroe Center post office opened in 1893, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.