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History · Northern Township

27% of Northern Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1939 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Northern 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 Northern Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Northern Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Northern Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Northern 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

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

Webb's Prairie
1851–1876
Taylor Hill
1867–1903
Frisco
1893–1903
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DianaFriscoTaylor Hill
Gone or out of use
Accommodation SchoolschoolIndependence SchoolschoolNew Harmony SchoolschoolStockwell SchoolschoolSugarcamp SchoolschoolTaylor Hill Post Officepost officeTaylor Hill SchoolschoolWalnut Grove ChurchchurchWebbs Prairie Post Officepost officeWebbs Prairie Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Northern Township
GilgalJacksonvilleMiddle ForkSmithWalnut Grove

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

The story so far

Northern Township, in brief

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

Northern Township is one of twelve townships in Franklin County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 456 and it contained 192 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 476 to 456 (-4%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Northern Township in 1918

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

Herrin Taylor, Eli and Lazarus Webb, doubtless were the first settlers in the Northern Township, settling about 1815. The large prairie in Northern and Ewing Townships was named after the Webb family.
Franklin County history1918 · page 60Read the page →
Read the text

Herrin Taylor, Eli and Lazarus Webb, doubtless were the first settlers in the Northern Township, settling about 1815. The large prairie in Northern and Ewing Townships was named after the Webb family.

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

Northern Township, 1851 to 1939

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Webb's Prairie post office opens
  3. 1867Post officeThe Taylor Hill post office opens
  4. 1876Post officeThe Webb's Prairie post office closes
  5. 1893Post officeThe Frisco post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1903Post officeThe Taylor Hill post office closes
  8. 1903Post officeThe Frisco post office closes
  9. 1939On 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.
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On the map

Northern Township on the map, 1939 to 1974

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

Northern Township on the 1939 USGS mapNorthern Township on the 1943 USGS mapNorthern Township on the 1974 USGS map1939Ina 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 Northern Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Northern Township

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

See all →
Robert P. HillAmerican politician · b. 1874
B
Bill WallerAmerican football coach · b. 1911
P
Phil OdleAmerican football player · b. 1942
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Knight Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEastern TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEwing TownshipIts storyCMoores Prairie Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpring Garden TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Northern Township’s history

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 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.