Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to St. Mary Township

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 · St. Mary Township

St. Mary Township’s post office opened in 1836, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1913 on.

1836first post office
0on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How St. Mary Township began

When was St. Mary Township founded?

1836

The St. Mary Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saint Mary (1836), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 568190 years
Founding year: the first St. Mary Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about St. Mary 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 St. Mary Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1836: 190 years of St. Mary Township.Old housesHalf of St. Mary Township’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Mary Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Mary 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
Timeline

St. Mary Township, 1836 to 1913

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1836Post officeThe Saint Mary post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Saint Mary post office closes
  5. 1913On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

St. Mary Township, in brief

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

St. Mary is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's Township, Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The community is located along County Route 6 3.9 miles (6.3 km) north of Plymouth.

Its first post office opened in 1836. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 640 to 568 (-11%).

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

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
On the map

St. Mary Township on the map, 1913 to 1974

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

St. Mary Township on the 1913 USGS mapSt. Mary Township on the 1974 USGS map1913Colchester 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 St. Mary Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Saint Mary, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Mary
Gone or out of use
Cain SchoolschoolClark Landing StripairportHickory Flat SchoolschoolO'Neal QuarrymineProvidence SchoolschoolShiloh SchoolschoolUnion Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Mary Township
HollandIrwinProvidence

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.

Harmony TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHancock TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAugusta TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLamoine TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about St. Mary Township’s history

What year was St. Mary Township founded?

The St. Mary Township post office opened in 1836, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.