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Rocky Run-Wilcox Township building 2026-08-30Photo: User:Visviva · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Rocky Run-Wilcox Township

35% of Rocky Run-Wilcox Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1964 on.

0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: User:Visviva · CC BY-SA 4.0

What stands out about Rocky Run-Wilcox 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 Rocky Run-Wilcox Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rocky Run-Wilcox Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rocky Run-Wilcox Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rocky Run-Wilcox 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, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Green Plains
1834–1851
Rocky Run
1851–1855
Mallard
1882–1919
Star
1884–1906
18301930today
Gone or out of use
Franklin SchoolschoolGreen Plain SchoolschoolH Meeker AirportairportHebron ChurchchurchMeeker AirportairportOak Valley SchoolschoolRocky Run SchoolschoolStar SchoolschoolWarsaw AirportairportWhite Brick SchoolschoolWhite Prairie Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rocky Run-Wilcox Township
CrenshawFletcherGreen PlainsMount Vernon Missionary BaptistOak Valley

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

The story

How Rocky Run-Wilcox Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rocky Run-Wilcox Township.

Read it all →

Rocky Run Township was established November 6, 1849. Wilcox Township was established November 15, 1855 after neighboring Warsaw Township became coterminous with Warsaw, Illinois.

After population decline left both townships with too few individuals interested in serving as elected officials in the township, a referendum to merge was passed by voters in both townships. That same election, a similar consolidation referendum was passed in Montgomery County, but failed in Ogle County. The Hancock County Board voted to name the new township Rocky Run-Wilcox Township over then-Wilcox Supervisor Duane Taylor's proposed Green Plains Township.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rocky Run-Wilcox Township, 1834 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1834Post officeThe Green Plains post office opens
  3. 1851Post officeThe Green Plains post office closes
  4. 1851Post officeThe Rocky Run post office opens
  5. 1855Post officeThe Rocky Run post office closes
  6. 1882Post officeThe Mallard post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1919Post officeThe Mallard post office closes
  9. 1964On 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

Rocky Run-Wilcox Township on the map, 1964 to 1975

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

Rocky Run-Wilcox Township on the 1964 USGS mapRocky Run-Wilcox Township on the 1975 USGS map1964Warsaw 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 Rocky Run-Wilcox Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rocky Run-Wilcox Township

Nobody well known was born in Rocky Run-Wilcox Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Conrad NagelAmerican actor · b. 1897
Elsa MaxwellAmerican gossip columnist, author, songwriter, … · b. 1883
Richard PageAmerican musician · b. 1953
A
Alden W. ClausenAmerican businessman, President of the World Ba… · b. 1923
Ella EwingTallest female of her era · b. 1872
Frank SteunenbergAmerican politician · b. 1861
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Warsaw1 historic placeA+Warsaw Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLima TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWythe TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWalker TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHamilton3 historic placesA−Montebello Township4 historic placesA

Questions about Rocky Run-Wilcox Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.