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History · Sargent Township

12% of Sargent Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1930.

0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Sargent 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 Sargent Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Sargent Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sargent Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Sargent Township, in brief

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

Sargent Township is one of nine townships in Douglas County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 240 and it contained 125 housing units. The township contains Walnut Point State Park.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 286 to 240 (-16%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Sargent Township in 1876

Passages that mention Sargent Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Sargent Township enjoys the distinction of being the ov\y township in the county which has no voted railroad debt as a township. In population it is the smallest in the county. The number of inhabitants per Ninth Census, 1870, was 1,035.
History of Douglas county, Illinois1876 · page 76Read the page →
Read the text

Sargent Township enjoys the distinction of being the ov\y township in the county which has no voted railroad debt as a township. In population it is the smallest in the county. The number of inhabitants per Ninth Census, 1870, was 1,035.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Sargent Township, 1846 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe Brushy Fork post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1903Post officeThe Brushy Fork post office closes
  5. 1936On 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.

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On the map

Sargent Township on the map, 1936 to 1998

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

Sargent Township on the 1936 USGS mapSargent Township on the 1942 USGS mapSargent Township on the 1982 USGS mapSargent Township on the 1998 USGS map1936Oakland 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 Sargent Township.

People over time

Sargent Township, census by census

020040060080019401960198020002020Peak: 878

Between 240 and 878 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Sargent Township

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

See all →
Edward Adelbert DoisyAmerican biochemist · b. 1893
J
James GammonAmerican actor · b. 1940
G
Gertrude SawyerAmerican architect · b. 1895
T. Gilbert PearsonConservationist · b. 1873
Fred Ernst BusbeyPolitician and United States Army soldier · b. 1895
Helen BertramAmerican musical theatre actress · b. 1865
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
Antioch SchoolschoolBrushy Fork Post Officepost officeFairplay SchoolschoolGreenwood SchoolschoolJack Oak SchoolschoolMount Carmel SchoolschoolPleasant Grove SchoolschoolWilliams Landing Stripairport
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sargent Township
AlbinGwinnPleasant Grove

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Bowdre TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEast Oakland Township1 historic placeANewman Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEmbarrass TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMorgan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sargent 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.