Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Wrights 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 · Wrights Township

Wrights Township’s post office opened in 1905, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1924 on.

1905first post office
0on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Wrights Township began

When was Wrights Township founded?

1905

The Wrights Township post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Wrightsville (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 224121 years
Founding year: the first Wrights Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Wrights 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 Wrights Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Wrights Township’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wrights Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wrights 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
The story so far

Wrights Township, in brief

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

Wrights is an unincorporated community in Wrights Township, Greene County, Illinois, United States. Wrights is 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Greenfield and has a post office with ZIP code 62098.

Its first post office opened in 1905. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 314 to 224 (-29%).

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

Timeline

Wrights Township, 1871 to 1927

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Wrightsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Wrightsville post office closes
  5. 1905Post officeThe Wrights post office opens
  6. 1924On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1927Born hereRoy Vernon Scott is born here
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

Wrights Township on the map, 1924 to 1983

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

Wrights Township on the 1924 USGS mapWrights Township on the 1983 USGS map1924Roodhouse 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 Wrights Township.

Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Wrightsville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Wrightsville
1871–1905
Wrights
1905–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Wrights
Gone or out of use
Appalonia SchoolschoolBatty SchoolschoolBenear SchoolschoolHickory Grove ChurchchurchJericho SchoolschoolPinhook SchoolschoolWesley Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Wrights Township
Hickory Grove

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

White Hall Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLinder TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRubicon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCarrollton Township4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Wrights Township’s history

What year was Wrights Township founded?

The Wrights Township post office opened in 1905, 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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.