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History · Sterling Township

Sterling Township’s post office opened in 1862, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Sterling Congregational Church.

1862first post office
1on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Sterling Township began

When was Sterling Township founded?

1862

The Sterling Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Sterling (1862), Sterling Centre (1868) and Sterling Center (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 244164 years
Founding year: the first Sterling Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
On the National Register

1 historic place in Sterling Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Sterling Congregational Church
Sterling Congregational Church
Buildings
Sterling Congregational ChurchBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

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

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sterling
1862–1868
Sterling Centre
1868–1893
Sterling Center
1893–1904
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sterling Center
Gone or out of use
Sterling Center Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sterling Township
Jackson LakeSterling

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.

Mapleton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townShelby Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLyra TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDelavan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWinnebago City TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sterling Township’s history

What year was Sterling Township founded?

The Sterling Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Sterling Township?

One place: the Sterling Congregational Church (listed 1980).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.