The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Orchard got its start in the year 1869, following construction of the Illinois Central Railroad through that territory. It was named for Moses Orchard, a pioneer settler.
The ghost town of Lithograph City, approximately two miles southwest of Orchard, was founded in the early 1900s adjacent to quarries that produced lithographic limestone. Production in these quarries peaked during World War I when access to German lithographic limestone was cut off. In 1915, Lithograph City had 15 houses, a hotel, a dance hall and a museum. After the war, use of stone blocks in lithography declined, the city was renamed Devonia, and by 1938, no trace of the town remained.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Orchard’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orchard’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Orchard
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Orchard, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Orchard is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Orchard has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Mitchell County Courthouse in Osage, 4.3 miles away.
Orchard and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.