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History · Pilot Township

29% of Pilot Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1943 on.

0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Pilot 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 Pilot Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pilot Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pilot 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

How Pilot Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pilot Township.

Read it all →

Pilot Township was one of the eight townships created in 1851.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pilot Township, 1870 to 1943

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Hope post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Collison post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Hope post office closes
  6. 1943On 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

Pilot Township on the map, 1943 to 1968

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

Pilot Township on the 1943 USGS mapPilot Township on the 1957 USGS mapPilot Township on the 1968 USGS map1943Fithian 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 Pilot Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Pilot Township

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

See all →
Ned LukeAmerican actor · b. 1958
Jerry Van DykeAmerican actor and comedian · b. 1931
Joseph R. TannerWelsh-American astronaut · b. 1950
Helen MorganAmerican jazz singer and actress · b. 1900
Morris AnkrumAmerican actor · b. 1896
M
Marianne DickersonAmerican distance runner · b. 1960
Places that used to be

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

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

Hope
1870–1902
Collison
1894–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CollisonHope
Gone or out of use
Collison AirportairportCorner ChapelchurchEmberry ChurchchurchFairview SchoolschoolFowler SchoolschoolKnights Branch SchoolschoolPilot SchoolschoolRed Oak SchoolschoolSandbar SchoolschoolSchool Number 10schoolSchool Number 7schoolShellbark SchoolschoolSnider Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pilot Township
CollisonEmburyKnight's BranchRiceStumpTrimmell

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.

Blount TownshipIts storyCOakwood TownshipIts storyB−Middlefork TownshipIts storyBOgden TownshipIts storyC+Compromise TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Pilot 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 Wikipedia, 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.