From Reading Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Reading Township began
When was Reading Township founded?
1850
The Reading Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Moon's Point (1847), Reading (1850) and Ancona (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,247 in 20002020 census: 2,023176 years
How historic is Reading Township?
B−
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Reading Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Reading Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Reading Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Reading Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Reading Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±11.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Reading Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Reading Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Reading Township is located in Livingston County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,023 and it contained 1,008 housing units.
Its first post office opened in 1850. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,046 in 2010, 2,023 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Reading Township in 1878
Passages that mention Reading Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Livingston County, Illinois1878 · page 550Read the page →
Read the text
This family is known and recognized as one of the most substantial and straight in the township. John Mills, Sr., has been dead several years. The sons still reside where they first settled. J. C. Mills was the first Collector elected in Reading Township, was Supervisor a number of terms, and has held many other official positions. Ephraim Clark is one of the solid men of this part of the county. He was one of the first two Justices of the Peace elected after the township organization act was adopted, John A. Hoskins being the other. Hoskins was a man
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Reading Township, 1847 to 1962
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Reading Township.
1925Streator 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 Reading 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.
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Illinois - Livingston County - Reading - ED 53-43, 1880
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Reading Township’s page.
The Reading Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Reading Township rank for history?
Reading Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Reading Township?
28% of Reading Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.4 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1958.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), 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 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.
