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History · Neponset

Neponset’s post office opened in 1855, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1880.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Neponset began

When was Neponset founded?

1855

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

First census: 652 in 18802020 census: 427171 years
Founding year: the first Neponset post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Neponset’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 are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1899 to 1928, drew every building in Neponset.Old housesHalf of Neponset’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Neponset’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Neponset’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
Every building

Neponset, building by building, 1899–1928

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Neponset fire insurance map, 1899, sheet 11899Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Neponset came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Neponset.

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.

Timeline

Neponset, 1855 to 1929

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Neponset post office opens
  3. 1860Born hereClifford C. Parks is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Neponset, decade by decade

Today3 recent
20170823 18 Amtrak201720170823 18 AmtrakNeponset, Illinois2016Neponset, IllinoisNeponset, Illinois2013Neponset, Illinois
On the map

Neponset on the map, 1929 to 1994

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

Neponset on the 1929 USGS mapNeponset on the 1932 USGS mapNeponset on the 1983 USGS mapNeponset on the 1994 USGS map1929Annawan 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 Neponset.

People over time

Neponset, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 652

Between 427 and 652 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Neponset’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Neponset’s post office has been open since 1855.

Gone or out of use
Neponset High Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Neponset
Floral Hill

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

Questions about Neponset’s history

What year was Neponset founded?

The Neponset post office opened in 1855, 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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.