Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1927 on and old-book passages.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how White Oak Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of White Oak Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
White Oak Township is located in McLean County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 899 and it contained 355 housing units.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 899 in 2010, 914 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention White Oak Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Alonzo McKinney received his education in the schools of Ohio and attended New Lexington High School in Perry County, Ohio. When he was a young man he began farming, which has been his occupation throughout his career. He farmed one year in White Oak Township, McLean County, three years in DeWitt County, and then returned to White Oak Township. Mr. McKinney has lived retired at Normal since January, 1917, but he still maintains an interest in farming. His land holdings total 510 acres of well improved land.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of White Oak Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of White Oak Township.
Nobody well known was born in White Oak Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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, 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.
