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History · Seminary Township

Seminary Township’s post office opened in 1879

Most of Seminary Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Seminary Township began

When was Seminary Township founded?

1879

The Seminary Township post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Seminary (1879) and Pittsburg (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 482147 years
Founding year: the first Seminary Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Seminary 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 Seminary Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Seminary Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Seminary Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Seminary 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.

Seminary
1879–1888
Pittsburg
1889–1901
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Pittsburg
Gone or out of use
Columbus SchoolschoolMaple Grove SchoolschoolOak Grove SchoolschoolSeminary SchoolschoolShiloh Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Seminary Township
CollierDanielSeminaryTaylorWilliams

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

The story so far

Seminary Township, in brief

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

Seminary Township is one of twenty townships in Fayette County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 482 and it contained 229 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1879. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 498 to 482 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Seminary Township, 1879 to 1901

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Seminary post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Seminary post office closes
  4. 1889Post officeThe Pittsburg post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1901Post officeThe Pittsburg 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.
Add from your album
Famous people

Famous people close to Seminary Township

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

See all →
A
Alfred Harrison JoyAmerican astronomer · b. 1882
J
Job Adams CooperUnion United States Army soldier · b. 1843
Thomas M. JettAmerican politician · b. 1862
J
Josephine Elizabeth Burns GlasgowAmerican mathematician · b. 1887
Tom MerrittAmerican journalist · b. 1970
F
Frank HarterAmerican baseball player · b. 1886
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Pope TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKaskaskia TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBear Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Mound TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Seminary Township’s history

What year was Seminary Township founded?

The Seminary Township post office opened in 1879, 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 →
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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 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.