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History · Wards Grove Township

Wards Grove Township’s post office opened in 1848

Most of Wards Grove Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: maps from 1942 on and the census since 2000.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Wards Grove Township began

When was Wards Grove Township founded?

1848

The Wards Grove Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Ward's Grove (1848) and Plum River (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 280 in 20002020 census: 215178 years
Founding year: the first Wards Grove Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Wards Grove 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 Wards Grove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Wards Grove Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of Wards Grove Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wards Grove Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wards Grove Township’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
Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ward's Grove
1848–1859
Plum River
1849–1905
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
East StocktonMorseville
Gone or out of use
Gidds SchoolschoolTigerwhip SchoolschoolWards Grove Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Wards Grove Township
Blair CemeterBlair

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Wards Grove Township, 1848 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Ward's Grove post office opens
  3. 1849Post officeThe Plum River post office opens
  4. 1859Post officeThe Ward's Grove post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1905Post officeThe Plum River post office closes
  7. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Wards Grove Township, in brief

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

Wards Grove Township is one of 23 townships in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 215 and it contained 98 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1848. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 224 to 215 (-4%).

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

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

Wards Grove Township on the map, 1942 to 1971

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

Wards Grove Township on the 1942 USGS mapWards Grove Township on the 1971 USGS map1942Lena 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 Wards Grove Township.

People over time

Wards Grove Township, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 280

Between 215 and 280 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Wards Grove Township

Nobody well known was born in Wards Grove Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Charles N. FowlerAmerican politician · b. 1852
John C. McKenzieAmerican politician · b. 1860
Leo E. AllenAmerican politician · b. 1898
Julia Bracken WendtAmerican sculptor · b. 1870
John A. MaguireAmerican politician · b. 1870
L
Leo BinzCatholic archbishop · b. 1900
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Stockton Township1 historic placeB+Kent Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNora TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBerreman TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Wards Grove Township’s history

What year was Wards Grove Township founded?

The Wards Grove Township post office opened in 1848, 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 →
Start a conversation
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.