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History · Orange Township

23% of Orange Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1925 on.

0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Orange 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 Orange Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19253 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1998. Watch Orange Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Orange Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orange 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
On the map

Orange Township on the map, 1925 to 1998

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

Orange Township on the 1925 USGS mapOrange Township on the 1982 USGS mapOrange Township on the 1998 USGS map1925Galesburg 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 Orange Township.

The story so far

Orange Township, in brief

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

Orange Township is one of twenty-one townships in Knox County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 530 and it contained 240 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 556 to 530 (-5%).

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

Timeline

Orange Township, 1883 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Delong post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1925On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1962Post officeThe Delong post office closes
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Orange Township

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

See all →
Justin HartleyAmerican actor · b. 1977
James StockdaleUS Navy admiral and aviator · b. 1923
George Latimer BatesAmerican naturalist · b. 1863
C
Calvin B. HooverAmerican economist · b. 1897
Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
DeLong
Gone or out of use
Barnett SchoolschoolCook SchoolschoolDelong Post Officepost officeDempsey SchoolschoolElwell SchoolschoolHaynes ChurchchurchNewman SchoolschoolSumner SchoolschoolWhite Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Orange Township
CookFergusonHaynesMatherMc Callister

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.

Cedar TownshipIts storyBChestnut TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKnox Township3 historic placesAHaw Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPersifer TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Orange 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) 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.