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History · North Okaw Township

18% of North Okaw Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1935 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about North Okaw 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 North Okaw Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s North Okaw Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start North Okaw Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how North Okaw 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

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

Fuller's Point
1849–1895
Cooks Mills
1870–1926
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cooks MillsFuller
Gone or out of use
Ames SchoolschoolCooks Mills Consolidated Oil FieldoilfieldFuller Point SchoolschoolHobert SchoolschoolHoskins SchoolschoolHougland SchoolschoolLittle Red SchoolschoolSenteney SchoolschoolSmith SchoolschoolWade Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside North Okaw Township
BrannMount ZionPleasant GroveSmithZoar

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

The story so far

North Okaw Township, in brief

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

North Okaw Township is one of twelve townships in Coles County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,004 and it contained 366 housing units. The Kaskaskia River flows through the township. The Cook Mills Consolidated oil field is within this township. The township changed its name from Okaw Township on May 7, 1860.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 983 to 1,004 (+2%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about North Okaw Township in 1879

Passages that mention North Okaw Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

the county, are of recent date. Few settlers, if any, had located in the present limits of Humbolt Township, prior to the year 1836. True, a settlement had been made along the Okaw as early as 1838, but this was farther west and is now included in North Okaw Township. When the first settlers of Hum…
The history of Coles county, Illinois..1879 · page 470Read the page →
Read the text

the county, are of recent date. Few settlers, if any, had located in the present limits of Humbolt Township, prior to the year 1836. True, a settlement had been made along the Okaw as early as 1838, but this was farther west and is now included in North Okaw Township. When the first settlers of Humbolt Township came, they found the few farms then in cultivation, eitlier in the timber or nestling close by it, for none dared venture far from the timber

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the county, are of recent date. Few settlers, if any, had located in the present limits of Humbolt Township, prior to the year 1836. True, a settlement had been made along the Okaw as early as 1833, but this was farther west and is now included in North Okaw Township, When the first settlers of Hum…
The History of Coles County, Illinois ... map of Coles County1879 · page 470Read the page →
Read the text

the county, are of recent date. Few settlers, if any, had located in the present limits of Humbolt Township, prior to the year 1836. True, a settlement had been made along the Okaw as early as 1833, but this was farther west and is now included in North Okaw Township, When the first settlers of Humbolt Township came, they found the few farms then in cultivation, either in the timber or nestling close by it, for none dared venture far from the timber

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

North Okaw Township, 1849 to 1935

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Fuller's Point post office opens
  3. 1870Post officeThe Cooks Mills post office opens
  4. 1895Post officeThe Fuller's Point post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1926Post officeThe Cooks Mills post office closes
  7. 1935On 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.

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On the map

North Okaw Township on the map, 1935 to 1998

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

North Okaw Township on the 1935 USGS mapNorth Okaw Township on the 1940 USGS mapNorth Okaw Township on the 1983 USGS mapNorth Okaw Township on the 1998 USGS map1935Arcola 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 North Okaw Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to North Okaw Township

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

See all →
J
Johnny GruelleAmerican artist and author · b. 1880
M
Melbourne Armstrong CarrikerAmerican ornithologist and entomologist · b. 1879
M
Margery C. CarlsonU.S. botanist and conservationist · b. 1892
H
Henry Ellsworth EwingAmerican entomologist · b. 1883
C
Cora MeekAmerican quiltmaker · b. 1889
F
Fred EwingAmerican football player and coach · b. 1882
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Mattoon Township7 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHumboldt TownshipIts storyCEast Nelson TownshipIts storyBBourbon TownshipIts storyC+Jonathan Creek TownshipIts storyC+Arcola Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about North Okaw Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.