Piper City was laid out in 1867 by Samuel Cross of New York and William A. Piper (March 5, 1820 – July 6, 1896) of Philadelphia. The original plat was named Brenton. It was a station on the Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad, which had been completed ten years earlier. The present name of the town, which was adapted soon after the town was founded, comes from Piper who had extensive land holdings in the area. Cross lived briefly in the township, but little is known of his life. An earlier railroad siding and grain station known as Brenton had been established two miles to the east of the eventual location of the town. The new station was therefore briefly known as New Brenton. The Original Town lay on both sides of the railroad and the streets were aligned with the railroad, which was angled slightly away from true north–south. John Allen and W. C. Jones opened the first store in Piper…
Passages that mention Piper City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Ford County, Illinois1908 · page 198Read the page →
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Piper City is the principal village in the Pan Handle, and the third village in population in Ford county. It was laid out in section 4, Brenton township, by H. J. Howe, county surveyor, for Dr. William A. Piper, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Samuel Cross, of Chicago, in 1867. The village lies on both sides of the Wabash Railroad.
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History of Ford County, Illinois1908 · page 339Read the page →
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has figured prominently in the finaneial eircles of tlie city since 1867. He was originally connected with his father in banking and sold out to Campbell & Thompson, with the intention of devoting his time to his extensive landed interests. He organized the First National Bank of Piper City and from the beginning, April 14, 1900, has been its president. Previous to this he conducted the Piper City Bank, a private bank, which he bought of Durham Brothers in 1896. The National Bank is capitalized for fifty thousand dollars, and his son, Joseph K., is associated with him in this enterprise.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Piper City, 1867 to 1947
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Piper City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1944Piper City 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 Piper City.
Every building
Piper City, building by building, 1906–1911
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1906Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewIllinois, Piper City quadrangle : 15-minute series, 1947
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Piper City’s page.
Between 302 and 905 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Piper City’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Piper City’s history
What year was Piper City founded?
In 1867, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Piper City’s post office opened in 1868, and the census of 1870 counted 302 people here.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
Date?
