There were a series of small settlements near Waltonville prior to its formation. In 1840, Eli Gilbert dammed Rayse Creek about a mile northeast of Waltonville, near the point where the Mt. Vernon/Pinckneyville road crossed the creek. He built a saw mill, grist mill and store at this location, which was called "Mill Town". In 1860, Knob Creek Post Office was opened there. This was in McClellan Township.
In 1867, a settlement called Williamsburg was started, about a half mile west of Mill Town. This was in Knob Prairie, Blissville Township, just to the north of the present town of Waltonville. Knob Prairie owes its name to a steep hill, or knob, that arises just to the northwest of Waltonville. The town's water tower sits atop the knob.
Passages that mention Waltonville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Wall's history of Jefferson County, Illinois1909 · page 188Read the page →
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the northern part and there is a Methodist church at old Williamsburg. This place was started before war times and until the building of the Chester & Wabash road, promised to become a booming town; then the business moved to the new town, Waltonville, and Williamsburg went into decline. For the most of the time, Wilson Robinson kept the post-office and moved it to Waltonville at the opening of the road. While at Williamsburg it was called Laur in honor of Capt. Joe Laur of the Forty-ninth Regiment. The
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Wall's history of Jefferson County, Illinois1909 · page 187Read the page →
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there, another township of excellent land, part prairie and part timber, much the same as the foregoing townships. Knob Prairie lies in the south part and was so named from the high knob just north of Waltonville. The streams named at first, still follow us. Jesse A. Dees, an unique character, was among the first settlers. He could neither read nor write, but he could count, and became quite wealthy in his day. His life could only be told in a biography and we must pass it. The Hirons, the Gilberts, the Fairchilds, the
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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, 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.
