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History · Bone Gap

Bone Gap’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Bone Gap. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
3recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

According to local historians, the Piankeshaw Indians established a village in the vicinity of modern Bone Gap prior to the arrival of permanent European settlers. This village was situated in a gap in the treeline. When the first permanent European settlers arrived in 1830, they found a large number of discarded animal bones left by the Piankeshaw inhabitants, and named the settlement "Bone Gap."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Start Bone Gap’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bone Gap’s history is told.

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Famous people from Bone Gap

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Cy WarmothCy WarmothSports
By decade

Bone Gap, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album
Today3 photos
Bone-Gap-grain-elevator-ilCommonsBone-Gap-grain-elevator-il2020Bone-Gap-depot-ilCommonsBone-Gap-depot-il2020Bone-Gap-IOOF-PO-ilCommonsBone-Gap-IOOF-PO-il2020
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Bone Gap is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Bone Gap has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is St. Johns Episcopal Church in Albion, 5.7 miles away.

Bone Gap and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Bone Gap. Tap a dot.
St. Johns Episcopal ChurchWilliam W. Gray HouseBeall-Orr HouseLyles Consolidated SchoolOld Morrison MillLarchmound

Closest to Bone Gap

St. Johns Episcopal ChurchAlbion · Built 18425.7miWilliam W. Gray HouseGrayville · Building12.9miBeall-Orr HouseMount Carmel · Building13.1miLyles Consolidated SchoolPatoka · Building19miOld Morrison MillBurnt Prairie · Building19.5mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. St. Johns Episcopal Church’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Bone Gap?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Bone Gap’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Browns📜 West Salem📜 Albion📜 Bellmont

From Wikimedia Commons (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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