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History · Tamalco Township

Tamalco Township’s post office opened in 1884

Most of Tamalco Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Tamalco Township began

When was Tamalco Township founded?

1884

The Tamalco Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Tamalco (1884) and Hookdale (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 522142 years
Founding year: the first Tamalco Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Tamalco 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 Tamalco Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Tamalco Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tamalco Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tamalco Township’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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Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Tamalco
1884–1963
Hookdale
1887–1958
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HookdaleTamalco
Gone or out of use
Beaver Creek Oil FieldoilfieldCarthill SchoolschoolCrossno SchoolschoolDuncan SchoolschoolMcKendree ChapelchurchMunie PitmineMyatt SchoolschoolPalmer SchoolschoolPleasant Grove SchoolschoolTamalco Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Tamalco Township
DuncanMcKendreePayneSaint Peters

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

The story so far

Tamalco Township, in brief

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

Tamalco is an unincorporated community in Bond County, Illinois, United States. Tamalco is located along a railroad line northwest of Keyesport. The community was named in 1884 as a portmanteau of the names of Bond County residents W. H. Taylor, John McLaren, and Frank Colwell. Its post office opened the same year; Taylor served as the first postmaster.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 566 to 522 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Tamalco Township, 1884 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Tamalco post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Hookdale post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1958Post officeThe Hookdale post office closes
  6. 1963Post officeThe Tamalco post office closes
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Tamalco Township

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

See all →
Gretchen WilsonAmerican country singer · b. 1973
A
Alfred Harrison JoyAmerican astronomer · b. 1882
William F. DeanUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1899
James WickershamAmerican politician · b. 1857
J
Job Adams CooperUnion United States Army soldier · b. 1843
Thomas M. JettAmerican politician · b. 1862
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Mills TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIrishtown TownshipIts storyC−Pleasant Mound TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWheatfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Tamalco Township’s history

What year was Tamalco Township founded?

The Tamalco Township post office opened in 1884, 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) 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.