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History · Salem Township

45% of Salem Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 12 old photos and papers and maps from 1942 on.

0on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Salem Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Salem Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1900–1940.Old housesHalf of Salem Township’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · By decade

Salem Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s3 items
Birthplace of Wm. J. Bryan1900Birthplace of Wm. J. BryanBryan's Birth Place1906Bryan's Birth PlaceW.J. Bryan's homestead1906W.J. Bryan's homestead
1910s–1930snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1940s9 items
Oil worker1940Oil workerPopcorn stand1940Popcorn standGrocery store1940Grocery storeStore display1940Store displayWoman shopper1940Woman shopperSalem, Illinois. Woman shopper1940Salem, Illinois. Woman shopperSide street1940Side streetMain street1940Main streetCorner Tavern1940Corner Tavern
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
The story so far

Salem Township, in brief

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

Salem Township is one of twelve townships in Carroll County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 350 and it contained 155 housing units.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 348 in 2010, 350 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Salem Township, 1887 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Dagget post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveBirthplace of Wm. J. Bryan
  5. 1906Post officeThe Dagget post office closes
  6. 1940In the archiveOil worker
  7. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Salem Township on the map, 1942 to 1985

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

Salem Township on the 1942 USGS mapSalem Township on the 1985 USGS map1942Mt Carroll 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 Salem 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.

Birthplace of Wm. J. Bryan
Retake this viewBirthplace of Wm. J. Bryan, 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Salem Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Salem Township

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

See all →
E
Edward Alphonso GoldmanAmerican zoologist · b. 1873
Neta Snook SouthernAmerican Pioneer Aviator · b. 1896
Wayne KingAmerican musician · b. 1901
B
Billy ZoomAmerican guitarist · b. 1948
Charles S. LobingierAmerican jurist and judge · b. 1866
G
Gerald L. GeisonAmerican historian · b. 1943
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Ashdale JunctionDaggett
Gone or out of use
Daggett SchoolschoolKingery SchoolschoolMission Ridge SchoolschoolOakville SchoolschoolReede SchoolschoolUnion SchoolschoolWilliard Nycum RLA Airportairport
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Salem Township
Adams - DaggertOakvilleTrinity Evangelical Lutheran

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

Help out

Finish Salem Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBirthplace of Wm. J. Bryan: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Mount Carroll Township4 historic placesA+Fairhaven TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFreedom TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMount Carroll4 historic placesA+Rock Creek-Lima Township1 historic placeA+

Questions about Salem Township’s history

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 the Library of Congress (12), 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.