Mount Morris Township’s post office opened in 1841, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #43 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Samuel M. Hitt House. Its Register listings are the Samuel M. Hitt House. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Mount Morris Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mount Morris Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Morris Township is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #43 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Morris 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 Mount Morris Township’s 76.3 sits above most of its state (93% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 28 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 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 Mount Morris Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Mt. Morris is home of the Illinois Freedom Bell, which is located in the town square. The area that is now the town square used to be the campus of one of Illinois' first institutes of higher learning, Mount Morris College. It was first a Methodist school and was later affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. The college closed due to hard economic times. The village's old Junior High School, while undergoing demolition, caught fire and burned forcing the school district to be merged with the Oregon School District in 1993. On February 12, 2004, the Rahn Elementary School was lost to fire. This resulted in the reorganization of the Oregon School District. The former Oregon city elementary and middle schools were merged into a single elementary school. The Mt. Morris Highschool has since been used as the middle school for the district. The town is also home of a very large group o…
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Morris Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1922Oregon 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 Mount Morris Township.
On the National Register
2 listings protect 28 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Mount Morris Township, census by census
Between 855 and 3,173 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Morris Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Gone or out of use
Cedar Bluff SchoolschoolCenter SchoolschoolCoon Creek SchoolschoolFairview SchoolschoolMaple Grove SchoolschoolNew Junction SchoolschoolStonebraker SchoolschoolVictory Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mount Morris Township
OakwoodSilver Creek
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.
The Mount Morris Township post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mount Morris Township rank for history?
Mount Morris Township is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #43 of 768 in Illinois. 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.
What is on the National Register in Mount Morris Township?
2 listings: 1 building, among them the Samuel M. Hitt House (listed 1985, the first). 28 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Mount Morris Township?
28% of Mount Morris Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (14), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
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