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History · Spaulding

Spaulding’s post office opened in 1890

Most of Spaulding was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: old-book passages.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Spaulding began

When was Spaulding founded?

1890

The Spaulding post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 801136 years
Founding year: the first Spaulding post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Spaulding’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 Spaulding are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Spaulding’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spaulding’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

Spaulding, in brief

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

Spaulding is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Spaulding had a population of 801. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. Spaulding is in the Riverton School District #14.

Its first post office opened in 1890. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 873 to 801 (-8%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Spaulding in 1912

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

lived there only a short time, then returned to Sangamon County and spent a short time at Riverton. He worked several years in the employ of the Spaulding Nursery Company, and, in 1898, received the appointment of Postmaster of Spaulding, being re-appointed twice and holding the position eleven yea…
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Sangamon County1912 · page 1542Read the page →
Read the text

lived there only a short time, then returned to Sangamon County and spent a short time at Riverton. He worked several years in the employ of the Spaulding Nursery Company, and, in 1898, received the appointment of Postmaster of Spaulding, being re-appointed twice and holding the position eleven years. He conducted a general store in the village during this time,

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.

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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Famous people

Famous people close to Spaulding

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

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Charles McGavinU.S. Representative · b. 1874
C
Carl VandagriftAmerican baseball player · b. 1883
J
Jack BrittinAmerican baseball player · b. 1924
J
John William MillerAmerican aviation pioneer, civil engineer, and … · b. 1880
L
LaRue Van MeterAmerican sports coach and attorney · b. 1898
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Spaulding had its own post office from 1890 to 1916.

Spaulding
1890–1916
18901960today

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.

RivertonIts storyB−

Questions about Spaulding’s history

What year was Spaulding founded?

The Spaulding post office opened in 1890, 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), 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.