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History · Rice Township

17% of Rice Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1911 on and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Rice 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 Rice Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Rice Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rice Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rice 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

Another post office, Marsden's Diggins, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
AikenRiceWinston
Gone or out of use
Blackjack MinemineCalifornia DigginsmineGreen Valley SchoolschoolMarsden DigginsmineOak Ridge SchoolschoolRoyal Princess MinemineSpring Creek Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Rice Township
Prospect Hill Methodist Episcopalian

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

The story so far

Rice Township, in brief

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

Rice Township is one of 23 townships in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 348 and it contained 271 housing units. It was formed as Washington Township from East Galena Township on February 22, 1859; its name changed to Rice Township on June 16, 1859.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 338 to 348 (+3%).

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

Timeline

Rice Township, 1864 to 1911

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1864Post officeThe Marsden's Diggins post office opens
  3. 1865Post officeThe Marsden's Diggins post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1911On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Rice Township on the map, 1911 to 1968

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

Rice Township on the 1911 USGS mapRice Township on the 1968 USGS map1911Galena 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 Rice Township.

People over time

Rice Township, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 348

Between 306 and 348 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Rice Township

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

See all →
D
Donald William KerstAmerican accelerator physicist who developed th… · b. 1911
Frederick SchwatkaAmerican explorer and author · b. 1849
John Aaron RawlinsUnion Army general, 29th Secretary of War · b. 1831
John W. Cox, Jr.American politician · b. 1947
Francis MarshallBrigadier General of the United States Army · b. 1867
Robert M. LoseyAmerican meteorologist and air force officer · b. 1908
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

East Galena Township1 historic placeA−Elizabeth Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHanover Township1 historic placeA

Questions about Rice Township’s history

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.