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History · Whiteash

Whiteash dates to 1903

Most of Whiteash was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1909 on and the census since 1910.

1903founded
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Whiteash began

When was Whiteash founded?

1903

Whiteash dates its founding to 1903 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 353 in 19102020 census: 279123 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1904.The full story ↓

What stands out about Whiteash’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 Whiteash are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19093 editions of the USGS map, 1909 to 1963. Watch Whiteash change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Whiteash’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Whiteash’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Whiteash on the map, 1909 to 1963

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

Whiteash on the 1909 USGS mapWhiteash on the 1941 USGS mapWhiteash on the 1963 USGS map1909West Frankfort 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 Whiteash.

The story

How Whiteash came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Whiteash.

Read it all →

Whiteash began as a coal mining community around the Chicago and Marion Coal Company's mine organized by Charles A. Gent of nearby Marion, Illinois. In 1903, Gent bought the site of the village from Samuel K. Casey, publisher of the Egyptian Press newspaper also of Marion. He in turn had inherited it from his grandfather George W. Binkley who had homesteaded the land and entered it with the government in 1837. Gent platted the village on July 3, 1903, in the northwest corner of Section 31, Township 8 South, Range 3 East of the Third Principal Meridian, also known as Lake Creek Precinct. He named the town Whiteash after the trade name he used for the coal his mine produced.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Whiteash, 1903 to 1931

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903
    FoundingWhiteash is established
  3. 1904Post officeThe Whiteash post office opens
  4. 1909On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1931Post officeThe Whiteash post office closes
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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People over time

Whiteash, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 381

Between 160 and 381 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Whiteash

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

See all →
John MalkovichAmerican actor · b. 1953
Nick HolonyakAmerican physicist · b. 1928
Doug CollinsAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1951
Richard ClaridaAmerican economist · b. 1957
Kenneth J. GrayAmerican politician · b. 1924
Edward E. DenisonAmerican politician · b. 1873
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Whiteash had its own post office from 1904 to 1931.

Whiteash
1904–1931
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
White Ash
1cemetery inside Whiteash
Sanders Davis

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

Questions about Whiteash’s history

What year was Whiteash founded?

In 1903, according to Wikidata. Whiteash’s post office opened in 1904, and the census of 1910 counted 353 people here.

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 Wikipedia, 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.