Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Montezuma Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Montezuma Township

Montezuma Township’s post office opened in 1833, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1924 on.

1833first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Montezuma Township began

When was Montezuma Township founded?

1833

The Montezuma Township post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Montezuma (1833), Bedford (1854) and Green Pond (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 417193 years
Founding year: the first Montezuma Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Montezuma 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 Montezuma Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Montezuma Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1833: 193 years of Montezuma Township.Old housesHalf of Montezuma Township’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Montezuma Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Montezuma 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

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

Montezuma
1833–1923
Bedford
1854–1931
Green Pond
1868–1872
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BedfordGreenpondMontezuma
Gone or out of use
Buckhorn SchoolschoolCrossroads SchoolschoolFreedom FieldairportWest Grove Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Montezuma Township
BedfordClemmonsFrenchGreenpondMontezumaThurman

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

Timeline

Montezuma Township, 1833 to 1931

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1833Post officeThe Montezuma post office opens
  3. 1854Post officeThe Bedford post office opens
  4. 1868Post officeThe Green Pond post office opens
  5. 1872Post officeThe Green Pond post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1923Post officeThe Montezuma post office closes
  8. 1924On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1931Post officeThe Bedford post office closes
The story so far

Montezuma Township, in brief

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

Montezuma Township is located in Pike County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 540 and it contained 254 housing units. It is located in Township 6 South, Range 2 West of the 3rd Principal Meridian. Villages include Bedford, Greenpond, Milton and Montezuma.

Its first post office opened in 1833. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 540 to 417 (-23%).

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

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.
Add from your album
On the map

Montezuma Township on the map, 1924 to 1981

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

Montezuma Township on the 1924 USGS mapMontezuma Township on the 1981 USGS map1924Griggsville 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 Montezuma Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Montezuma Township

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

See all →
Ryan CarnesAmerican actor · b. 1982
Greene Vardiman BlackAmerican dentistry academic · b. 1836
Timothy M. RoseAmerican actor and puppeteer · b. 1942
L
Lew HitchAmerican basketball player · b. 1929
Charles Russell DavisAmerican politician, Minnesota · b. 1849
G
George O'DonnellAmerican baseball player · b. 1929
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Patterson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHardin TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDetroit TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPearl TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Montezuma Township’s history

What year was Montezuma Township founded?

The Montezuma Township post office opened in 1833, 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 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.