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History · Vergennes Township

Vergennes Township’s post office opened in 1846

Most of Vergennes Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1890.

1846first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Vergennes Township began

When was Vergennes Township founded?

1846

The Vergennes Township post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Grubb (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 275 in 18902020 census: 717180 years
Founding year: the first Vergennes Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Vergennes 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 Vergennes Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 491 in 2000; 235 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19103 editions of the USGS map, 1910 to 1968. Watch Vergennes Township change.Deep rootsA post office since 1846: 180 years of Vergennes Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Vergennes Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vergennes 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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People over time

Vergennes Township, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 491

Peaked at 491 in 2000; 235 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

On the map

Vergennes Township on the map, 1910 to 1968

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

Vergennes Township on the 1910 USGS mapVergennes Township on the 1938 USGS mapVergennes Township on the 1968 USGS map1910Murphysboro 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 Vergennes Township.

The story so far

Vergennes Township, in brief

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

Vergennes is a village in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, and was settled in 1846 as Middleton or Middletown. The population was 235 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1846. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 771 to 717 (-7%).

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

Timeline

Vergennes Township, 1883 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Grubb post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Grubb post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 21st century
  7. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 491
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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Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Grubbs
Gone or out of use
Bottom SchoolschoolBrooks SchoolschoolCox Prairie SchoolschoolForest SchoolschoolManning Prairie SchoolschoolOak Grove Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Vergennes Township
Old VegennesParrish

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.

Ora TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElk TownshipIts storyBSomerset Township1 historic placeC+

Questions about Vergennes Township’s history

What year was Vergennes Township founded?

The Vergennes Township post office opened in 1846, 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.