History · Dover

Dover’s history is
mostly unwritten

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

0old images & papers
0recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

Dover was platted in 1833, and named after Dover, New Hampshire, the native home of a first settler. A post office has been in operation at Dover since 1839. Joseph R. Peterson (1904–1967), Illinois lawyer and state legislator; served as mayor of Dover in 1929 and 1930

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Start Dover’s collection

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

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Famous people from Dover

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Dover, 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.
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National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Dover is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Dover has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Red Covered Bridge in Dover, 4.5 miles away.

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. Red Covered Bridge’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Dover?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Dover’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
We left the porch light on

Where to, neighbor?

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