Otter Creek Township’s post office opened in 1832, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of Otter Creek Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 2000.
The Otter Creek Township post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Otter Creek (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 970 in 20002020 census: 899194 years
Founding year: the first Otter Creek Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Otter Creek Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Otter Creek Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Otter Creek Township is one of eleven townships in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 899 and it contained 418 housing units.
Its first post office opened in 1832. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,035 to 899 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Otter Creek Township in 1919
Passages that mention Otter Creek Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Jersey County, Illinois1919 · page 169Read the page →
Read the text
This congregation are now worshipping in a frame house known as the “Cumberland Presbyterian Church” in the center of Otterville. The Baptists in Otter Creek Township originally worshipped in the second story of the old stone schoolhouse. Some years after the close of the Civil War, they erected a brick church on the Hamilton Primary School lot, near the old stone schoolhouse, Avhich very comfortable structure they still occupy.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Jersey County, Illinois1919 · page 492Read the page →
Read the text
In the first settlement of the county there were no mills for grinding either wheat or corn. Soon after, in 1828, Greg McDaniel built a water grist-mill for grinding grain, on Otter Creek, in the western part of Otter Creek Township. Later mills were built by Hiram White, his brother Ira White, and Charles Smith on Otter Creek in that township. Farther west in Rosedale Township, Bryce’s mill and Barnett’s mill were built. These mills supplied the country for twenty years, and then steam grist-mills were erected, the first one by Adams and French in
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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Otter Creek Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1930Jerseyville 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 Otter Creek Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Otter Creek 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
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Otter Creek Township, census by census
Between 899 and 1,035 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Otter Creek Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Otter Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Gone or out of use
Buckeye SchoolschoolDouglas SchoolschoolGrant SchoolschoolLiberty SchoolschoolPleasant Grove SchoolschoolShiloh Schoolschool
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Otter Creek Township
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
