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History · Rockville Township

Rockville Township’s post office opened in 1838, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 2000.

1838first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Rockville Township began

When was Rockville Township founded?

1838

The Rockville Township post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Rockville (1838) and Deselm (1867), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 783 in 20002020 census: 756188 years
Founding year: the first Rockville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rockville 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 Rockville Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rockville Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1838: 188 years of Rockville Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rockville Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rockville 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

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

Rockville
1838–1902
Deselm
1867–1902
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DeselmFlickerville
Gone or out of use
Bloom SchoolschoolFlickerville SchoolschoolKeigher SchoolschoolKelly SchoolschoolMann SchoolschoolMoran Landing StripairportRice-SchoolschoolTaylor Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rockville Township
Blooms GroveDeSelm

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

Timeline

Rockville Township, 1838 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Rockville post office opens
  3. 1867Post officeThe Deselm post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Rockville post office closes
  6. 1902Post officeThe Deselm post office closes
  7. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Rockville Township, in brief

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

Rockville Township is one of seventeen townships in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 756 and it contained 325 housing units. It was formerly a township of Will County until Kankakee County was created. The township's name may have been derived from a Potawatomi village known to the pioneers as "Little Rock Village."

Its first post office opened in 1838. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 879 to 756 (-14%).

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
On the map

Rockville Township on the map, 1963 to 1973

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

Rockville Township on the 1963 USGS mapRockville Township on the 1973 USGS map1963Bourbonnais sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rockville Township.

People over time

Rockville Township, census by census

020040060080020002020Peak: 879

Between 756 and 879 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Rockville Township

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

See all →
K
KiiaraAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1995
Tanner RoarkAmerican baseball pitcher · b. 1986
Léo DandurandSports owner and businessman in Montreal · b. 1889
D
Don BetourneAmerican basketball player · b. 1915
A
Anthony MarkanichAmerican soccer player · b. 1999
N
Nick MarkanichAmerican soccer player · b. 1999
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Bourbonnais Township1 historic placeBManteno TownshipIts storyCWesley TownshipIts storyC+Limestone TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Rockville Township’s history

What year was Rockville Township founded?

The Rockville 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 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.