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History · Prairie City Township

Prairie City Township’s post office opened in 1855, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1860.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Prairie City Township began

When was Prairie City Township founded?

1855

The Prairie City Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Walnut Grove (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 770 in 18602020 census: 535171 years
Founding year: the first Prairie City Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Prairie City 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 Prairie City Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,078 in 1870; 407 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Prairie City Township’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Prairie City Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Prairie City Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Prairie City Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200190019502000Peak: 1,078

Peaked at 1,078 in 1870; 407 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

The story so far

Prairie City Township, in brief

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

Prairie City is a village in McDonough County, Illinois, United States. The population was 407 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1855. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 510 to 535 (+5%).

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

Timeline

Prairie City Township, 1870 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870CensusPopulation peaks at 1,078
  3. 1871Post officeThe Walnut Grove post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1916On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1974Post officeThe Walnut Grove 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.
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On the map

Prairie City Township on the map, 1916 to 1974

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

Prairie City Township on the 1916 USGS mapPrairie City Township on the 1974 USGS map1916Good Hope 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 Prairie City Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Walnut Grove
Gone or out of use
Curtis SchoolschoolEmory SchoolschoolPittinger SchoolschoolPleasant Mound Methodist Episcopal Churchchurch

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.

Bushnell TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGreenbush TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Prairie City Township’s history

What year was Prairie City Township founded?

The Prairie City Township post office opened in 1855, 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 →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.