Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Wheatland Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Wheatland Township

Wheatland Township’s post office opened in 1876

Most of Wheatland Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: maps from 1945 on and the census since 1990.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Wheatland Township began

When was Wheatland Township founded?

1876

The Wheatland Township post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Wheatland (1876) and Saint James (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 510 in 19902020 census: 496150 years
Founding year: the first Wheatland Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Wheatland 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 Wheatland Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Wheatland Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wheatland Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wheatland 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.

Wheatland
1876–1880
Saint James
1886–1936
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint James
Gone or out of use
Berry Hill SchoolschoolCenterville SchoolschoolEldorado SchoolschoolGerman Reformed ChurchchurchOld Loogootee SchoolschoolPoint Pleasant SchoolschoolPrairie View SchoolschoolRush SchoolschoolWalnut Grove Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Wheatland Township
German ReformedLovettOld LoogooteeSidenerStein

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

The story so far

Wheatland Township, in brief

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

Wheatland Township is one of twenty townships in Fayette County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 496 and it contained 216 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 467 to 496 (+6%).

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

Timeline

Wheatland Township, 1876 to 1945

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Wheatland post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Wheatland post office closes
  4. 1886Post officeThe Saint James post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1936Post officeThe Saint James post office closes
  7. 1945On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Wheatland Township on the map, 1945 to 1985

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

Wheatland Township on the 1945 USGS mapWheatland Township on the 1985 USGS map1945Kinmundy 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 Wheatland Township.

People over time

Wheatland Township, census by census

010020030040050020002020Peak: 510

Between 467 and 510 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lone Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAvena TownshipIts storyB−West TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOtego Township1 historic placeB+

Questions about Wheatland Township’s history

What year was Wheatland Township founded?

The Wheatland Township post office opened in 1876, 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.