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History · New Salem Township

26% of New Salem Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Welling-Everly Horse Barn. Below: maps from 1918 on.

1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about New Salem 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 New Salem Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s New Salem Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of New Salem Township’s homes were built before 1951.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start New Salem Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Salem 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

Another post office, Pennington Point, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pennington Point
1865–1902
Adair
1867–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AdairPennington PointShoo Fly
Gone or out of use
Adair Community High SchoolschoolAdair United Brethren ChurchchurchAdair United Methodist ChurchchurchFairview SchoolschoolFrogpond SchoolschoolNew Salem Christian ChurchchurchPennington Point Methodist ChurchchurchPennington Point SchoolschoolPilot Grove SchoolschoolPilot Grove United Brethren ChurchchurchWetzel SchoolschoolYokum Schoolschool
1cemetery inside New Salem Township
Pennington Point

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

The story so far

New Salem Township, in brief

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

New Salem Township is located in McDonough County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 369 and it contained 168 housing units. It is Township 5 North, Range 1 West of the Fourth Principal Meridian. It contains the census-designated place of Adair.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 369 in 2010, 362 in 2020.

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

Timeline

New Salem Township, 1865 to 1918

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1865Post officeThe Pennington Point post office opens
  3. 1867Post officeThe Adair post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Pennington Point post office closes
  6. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

New Salem Township on the map, 1918 to 1985

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

New Salem Township on the 1918 USGS mapNew Salem Township on the 1985 USGS map1918Vermont 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 New Salem Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in New Salem 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
1985
Welling-Everly Horse Barn
Welling-Everly Horse Barn
Buildings
Welling-Everly Horse BarnBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to New Salem Township

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

See all →
Joseph Sarsfield GlassAmerican Roman Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake · b. 1874
William C. FosterAmerican cinematographer · b. 1880
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Mound TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEldorado TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFarmers Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townScotland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about New Salem Township’s history

What is on the National Register in New Salem Township?

One place: the Welling-Everly Horse Barn (listed 1985).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.