The story
Read it all →How Spring Grove came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Spring Grove.
The first tower grain silo in the USA was built in Spring Grove in 1873.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Spring Grove
Spring Grove’s post office opened in 1883
More historic than 20% of U.S. towns · #630 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Spring Grove was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1920 on and the census since 1910.
1883first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Quick answers
How Spring Grove began
When was Spring Grove founded?
1883
The Spring Grove post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1902. Another post office, Blivens Mills (1847), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 203 in 19102020 census: 5,487143 years
How historic is Spring Grove?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 20% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Spring Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1902.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Spring Grove’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spring Grove is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #630 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Spring Grove’s overall grade.
Founding era1883, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.0% of homes (±3.3) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 20%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 18%
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Spring Grove’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1902.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Spring Grove’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 Spring Grove are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.On the map since 19204 editions of the USGS map, 1920 to 1993. Watch Spring Grove change.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Spring Grove’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spring Grove’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Spring Grove, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spring Grove’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Spring Grove on the map, 1920 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spring Grove. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1920Grays Lake sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Spring Grove.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Spring Grove in 1922
Passages that mention Spring Grove, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McHenry County, Illinois1922 · page 337Read the page →
Read the text
Spring Grove was platted May 3, 1855, by John E. and Emily J. Mann. This village is located in section 30, township 46, range 9 east. Troy was platted by Lewis Boon, September 1, 1847, in the southwest quarter of section 12, township 45, range 7. This is now Greenwood.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of McHenry County, Illinois1922 · page 224Read the page →
Read the text
The last railroad to be built in McHenry County was the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paid, which enters the county in the southeastern part of Burton Township and runs in a northwesterly direction through Richmond and Hebron townships, with stations at Spring Grove, Solon Mills, and at a junction point where this road crosses Kenosha & Rockford division on section 11, Hebron Township. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St, Paul Railroad was built through this county in 1900 and furnishes an additional outlet for the freight of the county. Through
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
Spring Grove, 1847 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1847Post officeThe Blivens Mills post office opens
- 1883Post officeThe Blivens Mills post office closes
- 1883Post officeThe Spring Grove post office opens
- 20th century
- 1913Born hereNick Etten is born here
- 1920
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1928
Born hereBilly Klaus is born here - 1937Born hereBobby Klaus is born here
- 1981
Born hereJen Lada is born here - 21st century
- 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 5,778
By decade
Spring Grove, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2024Famous people
See all →4 famous people were born in Spring Grove
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Spring Grove’s post office has been open since 1883. Another post office, Blivens Mills, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Blivens Mills
Spring Grove
18401930today
Gone or out of use
Creek SchoolschoolRichardsons Landing Stripairport
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Spring Grove
ColeSpring GroveWray - Imeson
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.
Questions about Spring Grove’s history
What year was Spring Grove founded?
The Spring Grove post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1902.
How does Spring Grove rank for history?
Spring Grove is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #630 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Spring Grove?
4% of Spring Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1998.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), 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), 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.