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–Not graded
History · Perry Township

Perry Township’s post office opened in 1837, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register.

1837first post office
1on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Perry Township began

When was Perry Township founded?

1837

The Perry Township post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Perry Springs (1869), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 522189 years
Founding year: the first Perry Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Perry 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 Perry Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Perry Township.Old housesHalf of Perry Township’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Perry Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Perry Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Perry Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Perry Township.

Read it all →

Perry was the birthplace of Mary Baird Bryan, wife of William Jennings Bryan, and the earliest known presentation of Bryan's famous 'Cross of Gold' speech was at a church social at the Perry Presbyterian Church. The text of the speech was printed in the local newspaper, now long-defunct.

Perry maintained a local public high school, graduating its first class in 1879, until it was consolidated with neighboring Griggsville, IL to form the Griggsville-Perry High School

Perry is named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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 National Register

1 historic place in Perry 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.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
Dexter SchoolschoolGrimes SchoolschoolGrout SchoolschoolPerry Springs SchoolschoolSummit Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Perry Township
CalhounDorseyLutzTaylorVarderWilson

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.

Fairmount TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGriggsville Township1 historic placeA+Chambersburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElkhorn TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNew Salem TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Perry Township’s history

What year was Perry Township founded?

The Perry Township post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikipedia, 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.