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Neponset, IllinoisPhoto: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA · CC BY 2.0
–Not graded
History · Neponset Township

Neponset Township’s post office opened in 1855, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Francis, Frederick, Woodland Palace.

1855first post office
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Neponset Township began

When was Neponset Township founded?

1855

The Neponset Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 658171 years
Founding year: the first Neponset Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Neponset 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 Neponset Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Neponset Township’s homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Neponset Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Neponset 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

How Neponset Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Neponset Township.

Read it all →

In 1836, English settlers William and Ann Studley were the first to arrive in the area. By 1840, additional settlers arrived, originally naming the settlement Brawby after the village they had left in England. The name was changed to Neponset in 1866, possibly named after the Neponset River in Massachusetts, where the English immigrants had arrived in the United States. Neponset incorporated as a village in 1883.

The Neponset High School was constructed in 1927 and served the community until 1999, when the Neponset School District merged with the Kewanee School District. High school aged students now largely attend Kewanee High School.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Neponset Township, decade by decade

Today3 recent
20170823 18 Amtrak, Neponset, Illinois201720170823 18 Amtrak, Neponset, IllinoisNeponset, Illinois2016Neponset, IllinoisNeponset, Illinois2013Neponset, Illinois
On the National Register

1 historic place in Neponset Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Francis, Frederick, Woodland Palace
Francis, Frederick, Woodland Palace
Buildings
Francis, Frederick, Woodland PalaceBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Bowen SchoolschoolDouglas SchoolschoolKentville SchoolschoolKuster SchoolschoolMiller SchoolschoolScott Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Neponset Township
Neponset

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.

Kewanee Township2 historic placesA−Macon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMineral TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElmira TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Neponset Township’s history

What year was Neponset Township founded?

The Neponset Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Neponset Township?

One place: the Francis, Frederick, Woodland Palace (listed 1975).

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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.