The Weller Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Red Oak (1848), Weller (1858) and Nekoma (1869), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 474 in 20002020 census: 413168 years
Founding year: the first Weller Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Weller Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Red Oak
1848–1850
Weller
1858–1867
Nekoma
1869–1935
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Nekoma
Gone or out of use
Brown SchoolschoolKelly SchoolschoolMaple Hill SchoolschoolMount Pleasant SchoolschoolRiver Side SchoolschoolSwamp College Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Weller Township
PiattRed Oak
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Weller Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Weller Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Weller Township is one of twenty-four townships in Henry County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 413 and it contained 193 housing units.
Its first post office opened in 1858. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 422 to 413 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Weller Township, 1848 to 1940
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Weller Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1940Galva 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 Weller Township.
On the National Register
1 listing protects 35 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
none yet
historic buildings protected
35
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Weller Township, census by census
Between 413 and 474 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Weller Township’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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.
