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History · Sefton Township

Half of Sefton Township’s homes were built after 1985

Most of Sefton Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Sefton 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 Sefton Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Sefton Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sefton Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sefton 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

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

Camp Creek
1861–1862
Avena
1874–1953
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AvenaSefton
Gone or out of use
Brick SchoolschoolBuchanan SchoolschoolBunker Hill SchoolschoolCamp Creek SchoolschoolMeyers SchoolschoolMiller Landing StripairportNorth Sefton SchoolschoolOak Grove SchoolschoolOakdale SchoolschoolOkaw SchoolschoolOwens SchoolschoolRigdon SchoolschoolUnion SchoolschoolZion Churchchurch
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sefton Township
FairviewForbisLibertyMount CarmelNew LibertyPadonZion

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

The story so far

Sefton Township, in brief

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

Sefton Township is one of twenty townships in Fayette County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 559 and it contained 253 housing units.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 599 to 559 (-7%).

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

Timeline

Sefton Township, 1861 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Camp Creek post office opens
  3. 1862Post officeThe Camp Creek post office closes
  4. 1874Post officeThe Avena post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1953Post officeThe Avena post office closes
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

Sefton Township on the map, 1941 to 1998

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

Sefton Township on the 1941 USGS mapSefton Township on the 1982 USGS mapSefton Township on the 1998 USGS map1941St Elmo 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 Sefton Township.

People over time

Sefton Township, census by census

010020030040050060020002020Peak: 599

Between 559 and 599 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Sharon TownshipIts storyCCarson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVandalia3 historic placesARamsey TownshipIts storyC+Loudon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAvena TownshipIts storyB−Vandalia Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOtego Township1 historic placeB+

Questions about Sefton Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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) 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.