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History · Portland Township

Portland Township’s post office opened in 1838, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

1838first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Portland Township began

When was Portland Township founded?

1838

The Portland Township post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Portland (1838), Spring Hill (1849) and Jefferson Corners (1852), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 458188 years
Founding year: the first Portland Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Portland 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 Portland Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Portland Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1838: 188 years of Portland Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Portland Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Portland 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

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

Portland
1838–1872
Spring Hill
1849–1912
Jefferson Corners
1852–1878
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Jefferson CornersPortlandSpring Hill
Gone or out of use
Arnett SchoolschoolBurke SchoolschoolJefferson Corners SchoolschoolKempsterville SchoolschoolPleasant Hill Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Portland Township
Shady TownSharon Church

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

Timeline

Portland Township, 1838 to 1912

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Portland post office opens
  3. 1849Post officeThe Spring Hill post office opens
  4. 1852Post officeThe Jefferson Corners post office opens
  5. 1872Post officeThe Portland post office closes
  6. 1878Post officeThe Jefferson Corners post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1912Post officeThe Spring Hill post office closes
The story so far

Portland Township, in brief

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

Portland Township is located in Whiteside County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 422 and it contained 186 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1838. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 422 to 458 (+9%).

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

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
Famous people

Famous people close to Portland Township

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

See all →
Robert Andrews MillikanAmerican physicist · b. 1868
Lafe McKeeActor · b. 1872
Dean CameronAmerican actor · b. 1962
Claude A. FullerAmerican politician · b. 1876
Gertrude Foster BrownAmerican concert pianist, teacher, and suffrage… · b. 1867
N
Norbert DavisAmerican crime fiction author · b. 1909
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Erie TownshipIts storyC+Fenton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCanoe Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLoraine TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townProphetstown Township1 historic placeAPhenix TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Portland Township’s history

What year was Portland Township founded?

The Portland Township post office opened in 1838, 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 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.