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Courthouse, Pike County, IllinoisPhoto: Mingusboodle at English Wikipedia · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Pittsfield Township

Pittsfield Township’s post office opened in 1829, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1926 on, and the census since 1850.

1829first post office
4on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pittsfield Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pittsfield Township began

When was Pittsfield Township founded?

1829

The Pittsfield Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 637 in 18502020 census: 4,037197 years
Founding year: the first Pittsfield Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pittsfield Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Pittsfield Township.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.Old housesHalf of Pittsfield Township’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Timeline

Pittsfield Township, 1858 to 1926

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858In the archiveAbraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858
  3. 1870In the archiveLarge group of people in buggies and wagons at C.P. Chapman's flouring mill in Pittsfield
  4. 20th century
  5. 1926On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the National Register

4 listings protect 344 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
344
each building in a district counts

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

The story

How Pittsfield Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pittsfield Township.

Read it all →

Pittsfield was initially settled by settlers from New England. These settlers were of old Yankee stock, descended from the English Puritans who had founded and settled New England in the 1600s. A group of settlers from Pittsfield, Massachusetts headed west and settled this region of Illinois in 1820. When they arrived the area was a virgin wilderness, they constructed farms, roads and government buildings.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Pittsfield Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1870s8 items
Abraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 18581858Abraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858Face detail, Abraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858 (cropped)1858Face detail, Abraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858 (c…Large group of people in buggies and wagons at C.P. Chapman's flouring mill in Pittsfieldc. 1870Large group of people in buggies and wagons at C.P. C…Large group of people in buggies and wagons at C.P. Chapman's flouring mill in Pittsfieldc. 1870Large group of people in buggies and wagons at C.P. C…Residence of C.P. Chapman in Pittsfieldc. 1870Residence of C.P. Chapman in PittsfieldResidence of C.P. Chapman in Pittsfieldc. 1870Residence of C.P. Chapman in PittsfieldAtlas map of Pike County, Illinois1872Atlas map of Pike County, IllinoisMapAtlas map of Pike County, Illinois1872Atlas map of Pike County, IllinoisMap
Date unknown1 to date
Worthington House, Franklin & West Washington StreetsDate?Worthington House, Franklin & West Washington Streets
Today4 recent
Zoe Theatre front2014Zoe Theatre frontPittsfield East School2014Pittsfield East SchoolJohn Shastid House (back)2012John Shastid House (back)2010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
On the map

Pittsfield Township on the map, 1926 to 1981

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

Pittsfield Township on the 1926 USGS mapPittsfield Township on the 1981 USGS map1926Pittsfield 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 Pittsfield Township.

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.

Abraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858
Retake this viewAbraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858, 1858

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pittsfield Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pittsfield Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0001850190019502000Peak: 4,576

Between 637 and 4,576 people in every census since 1850.

17 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pittsfield Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Aberdeen SchoolschoolColdwater SchoolschoolCork SchoolschoolFairview SchoolschoolGeorge W Schuster AirportairportPike County InfirmarylocaleUnion SchoolschoolYork Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pittsfield Township
Brawley - Iftner - OrrMoore - Enderly - YackleyOakwoodPittsfield WestTamsett Willsey

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Pittsfield Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewAbraham Lincoln O-10 by Jackson, 1858: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Newburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNew Salem TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDerry TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMartinsburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPittsfield4 historic placesAAtlas Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Pittsfield Township’s history

What year was Pittsfield Township founded?

The Pittsfield Township post office opened in 1829, 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 →
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.