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History · Walnut Hill

Walnut Hill’s post office opened in 1831, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1880.

1831first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Walnut Hill began

When was Walnut Hill founded?

1831

The Walnut Hill post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 138 in 18802020 census: 95195 years
Founding year: the first Walnut Hill post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Walnut Hill’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 Walnut Hill are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 223 in 1980; 95 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1831: 195 years of Walnut Hill.Old housesHalf of Walnut Hill’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Walnut Hill’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Walnut Hill’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Walnut Hill, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 223

Peaked at 223 in 1980; 95 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Walnut Hill, 1831 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831Post officeThe Walnut Hill post office opens
  3. 1863Born hereWilliam Sherman Jennings is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 223
The story

How Walnut Hill came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Walnut Hill.

Read it all →

Walnut Hill was once the intersection of two of the main roads in Illinois: the George Rogers Clark Trace and the Yadda Road.

The original capital of Illinois was at Kaskaskia, 70 miles (110 km) southwest of present-day Walnut Hill. The overland route from Kaskaskia to the interior of the state followed the Kaskaskia/[[Big Muddy

River]] divide, which went through Walnut Hill. George Rogers Clark marched through Walnut Hill in February 1779 on his march from Fort Kaskaskia to Fort Vincennes, which resulted in the conquest of Illinois by the army of Virginia.

ChaptersWilliam Goings Gang

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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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On the map

Walnut Hill on the map, 1943 to 1974

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

Walnut Hill on the 1943 USGS mapWalnut Hill on the 1974 USGS map1943Ashley 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 Hill.

Questions about Walnut Hill’s history

What year was Walnut Hill founded?

The Walnut Hill post office opened in 1831, 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 Wikipedia, 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.