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History · Tamaroa

Tamaroa’s post office opened in 1855, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1926 on and the census since 1870.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Quick answers

How Tamaroa began

When was Tamaroa founded?

1855

The Tamaroa post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Appleton (1848), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 937 in 18702020 census: 544171 years
Founding year: the first Tamaroa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Tamaroa’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tamaroa’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tamaroa’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

Tamaroa, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,115

Peaked at 1,115 in 1920; 544 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story so far

Tamaroa, in brief

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

Tamaroa is a village in the Tamaroa Precinct of Perry County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Tamaroa had a population of 544.

Its first post office opened in 1855. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 638 to 544 (-15%).

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

Timeline

Tamaroa, 1848 to 1926

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Appleton post office opens
  3. 1855Post officeThe Appleton post office closes
  4. 1855Post officeThe Tamaroa post office opens
  5. 1869Born hereFrank Donnelly is born here
  6. 1870Born hereLogan H. Roots is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 1,115
  9. 1926On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

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On the map

Tamaroa on the map, 1926 to 1975

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

Tamaroa on the 1926 USGS mapTamaroa on the 1975 USGS map1926Duquoin 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 Tamaroa.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Tamaroa

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Tamaroa’s post office has been open since 1855. Another post office, Appleton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Appleton
1848–1855
Tamaroa
1855–today
18401930today

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

Questions about Tamaroa’s history

What year was Tamaroa founded?

The Tamaroa 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 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) 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.