Founding year: the first Walnut Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Walnut Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walnut Township is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Walnut Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Walnut Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Walnut Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Walnut Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Walnut is a village in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,311 at the 2020 census, down from 1,416 at the 2010 census and 1,461 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area. The village was incorporated on October 26, 1876.
Its first post office opened in 1856. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,752 to 1,597 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Walnut Township in 1877
Passages that mention Walnut Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The voters and tax-payers of Bureau county, Illinois1877 · page 173Read the page →
Read the text
A German Lutheran Church was organized at Red Oak Grove, in Walnut Township, in 1855. Like all others, its membership at first was small, but has increased to one hundred and thirty-two. During its time it has had thirteen pastors. The church was erected in 1862 at an expense of f 1,100. The present pastor is Rev. Martin Elder.
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.
By decade
Walnut Township, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Walnut Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1949Walnut 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 Walnut 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.
Retake this viewWalnut quadrangle, Illinois : 15 minute series, 1949
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Walnut Township’s page.
The Walnut Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Walnut Township rank for history?
Walnut Township is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Walnut Township?
28% of Walnut Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1961.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1949
Date?
