Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Seatonville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Seatonville

Seatonville’s post office opened in 1889, and 46% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1890.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
46%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Seatonville began

When was Seatonville founded?

1889

The Seatonville post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 536 in 18902020 census: 321137 years
Founding year: the first Seatonville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Seatonville’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 Seatonville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18935 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1979. Watch Seatonville change.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,370 in 1910; 321 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Seatonville’s homes were built before 1950.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Seatonville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Seatonville’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
On the map

Seatonville on the map, 1893 to 1979

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

Seatonville on the 1893 USGS mapSeatonville on the 1909 USGS mapSeatonville on the 1911 USGS mapSeatonville on the 1966 USGS mapSeatonville on the 1979 USGS map1893Hennepin 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 Seatonville.

People over time

Seatonville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,370

Peaked at 1,370 in 1910; 321 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Seatonville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Seatonville.

Read it all →

A post office called Seatonville has been in operation since 1889, named for W. A. Seaton, an early settler.

The town is part of a constellation of coal mining towns centered on Spring Valley and LaSalle, Illinois. The Seaton brothers, Isom and James, sank the first coal mine shaft there in 1880. The mine was sold in 1888 to the Chicago, Wilmington, and Vermilion Coal Company based in Braidwood, Illinois. During the strike of 1889, it was the only mine operating in northern Illinois. A small community of African-Americans was brought in by the company to replace deserting miners.

The mine went bankrupt in 1900 and was purchased by the Spring Valley Coal Company. The town grew until the mine was closed in 1913.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Seatonville, 1889 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Seatonville post office opens
  3. 1892Born hereJack Kibble is born here
  4. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 1,370
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

Questions about Seatonville’s history

What year was Seatonville founded?

The Seatonville post office opened in 1889, 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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.