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History · Ontario Township

Ontario Township’s post office opened in 1850, and 46% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the J. Newton Conger House. Its Register listing is the J. Newton Conger House. Below: maps from 1947 on.

1850first post office
1on the National Register
46%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Ontario Township began

When was Ontario Township founded?

1850

The Ontario Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ontario (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 932176 years
Founding year: the first Ontario Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Ontario 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 Ontario Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Ontario Township’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ontario Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ontario 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
The story so far

Ontario Township, in brief

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

Ontario is an unincorporated community in Ontario Township, Knox County, Illinois, United States. Ontario is located at the junction of County Routes 6 and 35, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-northwest of Wataga.

Its first post office opened in 1850. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 943 in 2010, 932 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Ontario Township, 1850 to 1947

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Ontario post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Ontario post office closes
  5. 1947On 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

Ontario Township on the map, 1947 to 1982

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

Ontario Township on the 1947 USGS mapOntario Township on the 1982 USGS map1947Woodhull 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 Ontario Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Ontario 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
1979
J. Newton Conger House
J. Newton Conger House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Carpenter Gothic1
J. Newton Conger HouseCarpenter Gothic

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Ontario Township

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

See all →
Carl SandburgAmerican writer and editor · b. 1878
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.American engineer · b. 1859
Todd HamiltonProfessional golfer · b. 1965
H
Hugh GillinAmerican actor · b. 1925
John Rusling BlockAmerican government official · b. 1935
Don SamuelsonAmerican politician · b. 1913
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Ontario
Gone or out of use
Centennial SchoolschoolDoyle SchoolschoolFinley SchoolschoolNorth Ontario ChurchchurchReynolds SchoolschoolTalbot SchoolschoolWhite Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ontario Township
OneidaOntario

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.

Walnut Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRio TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClover TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSparta TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Ontario Township’s history

What year was Ontario Township founded?

The Ontario Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ontario Township?

One place: the J. Newton Conger House (listed 1979).

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.