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History · Saratoga Township

Saratoga Township’s post office opened in 1860, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1945 on.

1860first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Saratoga Township began

When was Saratoga Township founded?

1860

The Saratoga Township post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saratoga (1860), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 246166 years
Founding year: the first Saratoga Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Saratoga 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 Saratoga Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Saratoga Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Saratoga Township’s homes were built before 1950.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Saratoga Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Saratoga 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, Saratoga, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Campgrove
1853–today
Saratoga
1860–1885
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BroadmoorCamp GroveSaratoga Center
Gone or out of use
Conover SchoolschoolCoulter SchoolschoolDoyle SchoolschoolHoffman SchoolschoolMcVicker SchoolschoolRickey SchoolschoolWilson Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Saratoga Township
Saint Patrick

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

The story so far

Saratoga Township, in brief

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

Saratoga Township is located in Marshall County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 286 and it contained 135 housing units. Saratoga Township formed from a portion of Whitefield Township sometime before 1860.

Its first post office opened in 1860. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 286 to 246 (-14%).

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

Timeline

Saratoga Township, 1853 to 1945

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1853Post officeThe Campgrove post office opens
  3. 1860Post officeThe Saratoga post office opens
  4. 1885Post officeThe Saratoga post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1945On 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.
Add from your album
On the map

Saratoga Township on the map, 1945 to 1983

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

Saratoga Township on the 1945 USGS mapSaratoga Township on the 1983 USGS map1945Bradford 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 Saratoga Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Saratoga Township

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

See all →
C
Charles Torrey SimpsonAmerican botanist, malacologist, and conservati… · b. 1846
B
Bertha Marion LahmanAmerican botanist · b. 1872
Warren Crandall GilesAmerican baseball executive · b. 1896
Eva Katherine ClappAmerican writer · b. 1857
France Vinton ScholesAmerican scholar and historian · b. 1897
Myn M. HoffmanAmerican nurse · b. 1883
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Whitefield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMilo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPenn TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLa Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Saratoga Township’s history

What year was Saratoga Township founded?

The Saratoga Township post office opened in 1860, 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, 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.