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History · St. Peter

St. Peter’s post office opened in 1894, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1945 on and the census since 1910.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How St. Peter began

When was St. Peter founded?

1894

The St. Peter post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 313 in 19102020 census: 322132 years
Founding year: the first St. Peter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about St. Peter’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. Peter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of St. Peter’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Peter’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Peter’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

St. Peter, in brief

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

St. Peter or Saint Peter is a village in Fayette County, Illinois, United States. The population was 322 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1894. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 359 to 322 (-10%).

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.
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On the map

St. Peter on the map, 1945 to 1985

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

St. Peter on the 1945 USGS mapSt. Peter on the 1985 USGS map1945Kinmundy 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. Peter.

People over time

St. Peter, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 397

Between 251 and 397 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Peter
1cemetery inside St. Peter
Saint Peter Lutheran

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

Questions about St. Peter’s history

What year was St. Peter founded?

The St. Peter post office opened in 1894, 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 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.