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Cropsey Township History
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

Cropsey Township embraces the south half of Town 25, Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian, is three miles by six, and is territorially the smallest in the county, being only one-third the size of Gridley which is the largest. During most of its political history it has been attached to the present town of Anchor (24, 6) and in school affairs is attached to, and forms a school township with Belle Prairie, in Livingston County. In the division of the [Cropsey] township which took place in 1877, all that portion of the old town lying in Town 24, Range 6, was set off into a separate political organization with the name of Anchor. The official record before 1877 covers the two towns until that time, but for the years 1877, 1878, it is only for the present town. [The History of McLean County, Illinois, Chicago: W. LeBaron Jr. & Co., 1879] This township has the area of only half an ordinary township, being reduced by the cutting off of Anchor in 1877. The township and village were named for Col. A. J. Cropsey, who settled there in 1864. Cropsey at one time tried to obtain legal connection with Ford county, but the proposition was voted down. The township's population is 500. ["Official souvenir program, McLean County Centennial, Aug. 27, 28, 30, 1930" by: McLean County Illinois Centennial Souvenir Program Committee, Harold Lang and Eugene Funk]

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