Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Pine Creek Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Pine Creek Township

Pine Creek Township’s post office opened in 1850, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins.

1850first post office
1on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Pine Creek Township began

When was Pine Creek Township founded?

1850

The Pine Creek Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Pine Creek (1850) and Stratford (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 712176 years
Founding year: the first Pine Creek Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Pine Creek 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 Pine Creek Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Pine Creek Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pine Creek Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pine Creek 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
Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pine Creek
1850–1902
Stratford
1887–1919
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Stratford
Gone or out of use
Anterior SchoolschoolCenter SchoolschoolColumbian SchoolschoolHarmony Hill SchoolschoolHillsdale SchoolschoolLoughridge SchoolschoolOak Ridge SchoolschoolPine Creek QuarryminePine Creek Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pine Creek Township
Cedar HillEvergreenMount ZionOak RidgePine Creek Brethren

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Pine Creek Township, in brief

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

Pine Creek Township is located in Ogle County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 758 and it contained 320 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 758 to 712 (-6%).

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

Timeline

Pine Creek Township, 1850 to 1919

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Pine Creek post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Stratford post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Pine Creek post office closes
  6. 1919Post officeThe Stratford 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.
Add from your album
On the National Register

1 historic place in Pine 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
17
each building in a district counts
first listed
1985
White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins
White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins
Buildings
White Pines State Park Lodge and CabinsBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Pine Creek Township

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

See all →
Carl BarksAmerican cartoonist · b. 1901
A
Akiane KramarikAmerican artist, humanitarian, poet, child prod… · b. 1994
Mary Frances Winston NewsonAmerican mathematician · b. 1869
Ralph Waldo TrineAmerican author · b. 1866
G
George Perkins ClintonAmerican plant pathologist · b. 1867
T
Tim DillonAmerican basketball player · b. 1963
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Mount Morris Township2 historic placesAOregon-Nashua Township5 historic placesA+Grand Detour Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Pine Creek Township’s history

What year was Pine Creek Township founded?

The Pine Creek 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 Pine Creek Township?

One place: the White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins (listed 1985).

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), 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.