Do you know of Willow Creek ???

This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Willow Creek. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Willow Creek.

We found mention of Willow Creek as a post office (see Mentions and References below), but can't determine its location - other than being located somewhere in Lee County, Illinois.

It's common that the post office is named the same as the community in which it's located (although that's not always case). In this case, we can't match this post office to any of the existing communities in our gazetteer.

From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1850 and closed in 1873.

This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.

Part of the difficulty in identifying whether a name is a post office or a community lies with how Post Offices were named. We've prepared an article with our understanding of how post offices were named: Naming of Post Offices.

Communities Also Named Willow Creek ...

We found 29 communities that share the name Willow Creek.

There is one other community in Illinois which is also named Willow Creek.

Beyond Illinois, we know of another 28 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 28 communities, 28 are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

Communities Located In Illinois ...
- Cook County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Willow Creek [Cook County].

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alaska
  - Please visit our profile page for the Alaska community of Willow Creek.
- Arkansas
  - Van Buren County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Willow Creek [Van Buren County].
- California
  - Humboldt County
  - Please visit our profile page for the California community of Willow Creek [Humboldt County].
- Colorado
  - Arapahoe County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Willow Creek [Arapahoe County].
- Florida
  - Hillsborough County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Willow Creek [Hillsborough County].
- Georgia
  - Cobb County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Willow Creek [Cobb County].
  - Paulding County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Willow Creek [Paulding County].
- Indiana
  - Porter County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Willow Creek [Porter County].
- Kansas
  - Wallace County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Willow Creek [Wallace County].
- Louisiana
  - East Baton Rouge Parish
  - Please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Willow Creek [East Baton Rouge Parish].
- Minnesota
  - Blue Earth County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Willow Creek [Blue Earth County].
- Montana
  - Gallatin County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Willow Creek [Gallatin County].
- Nevada
  - Humboldt County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Willow Creek [Humboldt County].
  - Nye County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Willow Creek [Nye County].
- New Mexico
  - Rio Arriba County
  - Please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Willow Creek [Rio Arriba County].
- New York
  - Tompkins County
  - Please visit our profile page for the New York community of Willow Creek [Tompkins County].
- North Carolina
  - Greene County
  - Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Willow Creek [Greene County].
  - Wake County
  - Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Willow Creek [Wake County].
- Ohio
  - Hancock County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Willow Creek [Hancock County].
- Saskatchewan
  - Please visit our profile page for the Saskatchewan community of Willow Creek.
- South Carolina
  - Florence County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Willow Creek [Florence County].
- South Dakota
  - Stanley County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Willow Creek [Stanley County].
- Texas
  - Robertson County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Willow Creek [Robertson County].
- Utah
  - Salt Lake County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Willow Creek [Salt Lake County].
  - Uintah County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Willow Creek [Uintah County].
  - Weber County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Willow Creek [Weber County].
- Wisconsin
  - Washington County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Willow Creek [Washington County].
- Wyoming
  - Fremont County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Willow Creek [Fremont County].

Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Willow Creek ...

We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Willow Creek:

Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<2>

List of Post Offices in the United States (1870)
Published by the Government Printing Office

Table of U.S. Post Offices in the United States (Jan. 1851)
Published by W. & J.C. Greer, Printers

More Orphans in Lee County ...

Can you help?

As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Lee County.

Brookfield	North Dixon
Bureau Siding
	Ovid
Carnahan
China	Paw Paw Grove

Early Dawn	Scottsville
	Shaw
Gap Grove	South Willow Creek
	Steward Junction
May Hill	Stone
	Swissville

Footnotes ...

<1>

If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Willow Creek could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.

<2>

A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/