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History · Sublette Township

Sublette Township’s post office opened in 1855, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 14 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1900.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
14old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sublette Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sublette Township began

When was Sublette Township founded?

1855

The Sublette Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Henkel (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 306 in 19002020 census: 675171 years
Founding year: the first Sublette Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sublette Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos14 old photos, postcards and papers, 1920–1933.Mystery photos7 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.Old housesHalf of Sublette Township’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · By decade

Sublette Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1930s7 items
Sublette-icrrweb w560h4611920Sublette-icrrweb w560h461HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 0 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets1933HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 0 of 2) - Old Baptist Parso…HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 0 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets1933HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 0 of 2) - Old Baptist Parso…HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 1 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets1933HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 1 of 2) - Old Baptist Parso…HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 1 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets1933HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 1 of 2) - Old Baptist Parso…HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 2 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets1933HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 2 of 2) - Old Baptist Parso…HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 2 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets1933HABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 2 of 2) - Old Baptist Parso…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown7 to date
Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936 NORTH AND EAST ELEVATIONS - Old Baptist Pars…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936 TYPICAL WINDOW - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyd…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer July 1936 COPIED FROM AN OLD PHOTOGRAPH LOANED BY MRS. NEL…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photographer July 1936 SOUTH EAST ELEVATION - Old Baptist Parsonage, Sn…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph Hill, Photo…Historic American Buildings Survey, Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936 SOUTH ELEVATION - Old Baptist Parsonage, Sn…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Joseph Hill, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey, Joseph Hill, Photographer December 1936 TYPICAL PILASTER - Old Baptist Parsonage, S…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Joseph Hill, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey, Joseph Hill, Photographer July 1936 NORTH AND WEST ELEVATIONS - Old Baptist Parsona…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Joseph Hill, Phot…
Today4 recent
Sublette, Illinois2012Sublette, IllinoisSublette Farmers Elevator Co2012Sublette Farmers Elevator CoOLO Perpetual Help, St. Mary's Cemetery2012OLO Perpetual Help, St. Mary's CemeteryILMap-doton-Sublette2006ILMap-doton-Sublette
Help out

Finish Sublette Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo7 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSublette-icrrweb w560h461: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Sublette Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sublette Township.

Read it all →

The earliest references to Sublette as a town are from plat maps dating to the 1850s. At this point in time, Sublette was known as "Hanno" (named for Hanau, Prussia). It was a small cluster of houses just north of the settlement at Knox Grove.

In 1854, the Illinois Central Railroad built a line through Hanno and constructed a depot there for passenger and freight services. A plat map from the following year lists the town's name as being "Soublette" or the "Town of Soublett". The town name was officially changed to "Sublette" by an act of the state legislature in 1857. The name is unaffiliated with the town being sublet from the railroad; it likely traces back to an Americanized spelling of the French surname Soblet.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sublette Township, 1895 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Henkel post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904Post officeThe Henkel post office closes
  5. 1920In the archiveSublette-icrrweb w560h461
  6. 1933In the archiveHABS ILL,52-SUB,1- (sheet 0 of 2) - Old Baptist Parsonage, Snyder and Virginia Streets
  7. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Sublette Township on the map in 1952

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sublette Township.

Sublette Township on the 1952 USGS map1952Mendota 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 Sublette Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Sublette-icrrweb w560h461
Retake this viewSublette-icrrweb w560h461, 1920

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sublette Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Sublette Township, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 456

Between 261 and 456 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Henkel
Gone or out of use
Rapp Landing Stripairport
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sublette Township
BairdEvergreenSaint MarysTheiss

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.

May TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClarion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLee Center TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sublette Township’s history

What year was Sublette Township founded?

The Sublette Township post office opened in 1855, 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 Wikimedia Commons (18), Wikipedia, 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.