The Yellowhead Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Sherburnville (1850), Sollit (1854) and Yellowhead (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,556 in 20002020 census: 2,573155 years
How historic is Yellowhead Township?
B
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Yellowhead Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Yellowhead Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Yellowhead Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #337 of 768 in Illinois. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Yellowhead Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Yellowhead Township’s 3.9 sits above most of its state (73% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Yellowhead 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.
Sherburnville
1850–1902
Sollit
1854–1931
Yellowhead
1871–1875
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
PuderSherburnvilleSollitt
Gone or out of use
Love FieldairportOstrander SchoolschoolPoint SchoolschoolSquires Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Yellowhead Township
Saint Paul LutheranSherburnvilleUnion Corners
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Yellowhead Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Yellowhead Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Yellowhead Township is one of seventeen townships in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,573 and it contained 1,059 housing units. Yellowhead Township derives its name from the Potawatomi warrior, Yellow Head, whose village was located at what is now Yellowhead Point.
Its first post office opened in 1871. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,700 to 2,573 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Yellowhead Township, 1850 to 1949
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 Yellowhead Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1949Crete 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 Yellowhead Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Yellowhead Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Yellowhead Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Yellowhead Township rank for history?
Yellowhead Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #337 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Yellowhead Township?
One place: the Point School (listed 1992).
How old are the homes in Yellowhead Township?
18% of Yellowhead Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
