Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 2000.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Union Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Union Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Union Township is located in Livingston County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 195 and it contained 91 housing units. Union Township formed from Odell Township in 1864.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 240 to 195 (-19%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Union Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
public school house was opened in the bounds of the township. Arthur Marshall, James Hamilton and Mr. Hoke were elected the first School Trustees, and before the year had gone by another district was formed, and soon another, and so on, until, when Union Township was formed from Odell. nine districts were made, in a part of which houses were at once built. The last school house in the township was built in 1876, and school opened in it that Winter. They are well sustained, are conducted about seven months during the year, often longer, and are a credit to the township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Odell, Mr. Hoke drove there with a heavy wagon while the ground was quite wet, and thereby made a track that remained plainly apparent some time. This track the others gradually began to follow, and the first road from Odell to Union Township was established. As many of the first residents were liable to get lost on their way to Pontiac, there being no road there, Mr. Hedenberg took his breaking plow and made a furrow directly from the settlement to the county seat. By following this, the settlers soon had a road quite plainly marked, and which remained in use until the laying out of roads on the section lines.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Union Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Union Township.
Between 195 and 253 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Union Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Union Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Loretto, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
