Appleton, Illinois Ghost Town: History, Status and Directions

Overview

A station town in a creek bottom

Appleton sat in the valley of Court Creek in Knox County's Persifer Township, north of what is now US 150 and I-74. Wikipedia puts it about a mile north; by Knox Highway 12 it is 1.9 miles from US 150. Before 1888 the township had no town at all. That spring J. H. Lewis laid out Appleton on the north side of the Santa Fe railroad, which gave it a station, and for its early years it was known for shipping grain and stock.

It stayed small. Joseph W. Miles's account of the township, written in 1918, lists a store whose owner was the postmaster, a second store with a grain elevator, a blacksmith shop and a United Brethren church, which built a parsonage in 1917. Court Creek runs through the low ground to the Spoon River at Dahinda, and Wikipedia describes the town as prone to flooding. It shrank through the 20th century and lost its post office.

The 1982 USGS map still showed about a dozen buildings on a small grid of streets north of the tracks. Wikipedia says the last homes in the original town were moved to higher ground after the Great Flood of 1993, though it gives no source for that. The county's 2011 hazard plan still listed an Appleton fire station on Old Wagon Road, and Wikipedia says the original townsite holds only a few streets.

Then and now

Appleton from the air, 1969 and 2019

Appleton was laid out in 1888 on the north side of the Santa Fe railroad, where Knox Highway 12 crosses it in the valley of Court Creek. On June 10, 1969, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane photographed a few houses and outbuildings on its small grid of streets between the tracks and the fields. The 1982 USGS sheet still showed about a dozen buildings there.

The town was prone to flooding, and by Wikipedia's uncited account its last homes were moved to higher ground after the Great Flood of 1993. The second photograph, from the federal farm survey of August 2, 2019, shows the road and the railroad where they were, and brush, bare ground and a couple of street lines where the houses stood.

Drag the line across the photo, or use the arrow keys.

2019 aerial photograph: the same road, railroad and street lines, with brush and bare ground where the houses stood

Railroad (Santa Fe line)Knox Highway 12Brush and bare groundFarmstead2019

1969 aerial photograph: a few houses and outbuildings on a small grid of streets north of the railroad, where a county road crosses it among fields

Railroad (Santa Fe line)Knox Highway 12Houses on the town's streetsFarmstead1969

1969: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ILHAP), source, Public domain. 2019: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain. Both photographs cover the same 1.6 by 1.2 km and were lined up on 11 features: the road's crossing of the railroad, the railroad at six places across the frame, Knox Highway 12 at three places and the town street, to within about 2 m (RMS 0.7 m). Labels: the railroad and Knox Highway 12 from the guide's sources, the rest from what the photographs show.

Timeline

What we know

**The 1941 USGS Maquon sheet: Appleton at the Santa Fe station, between the hills of Section 16 and Court Creek** · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain

1886A county album notes that Persifer Township has no town within its borders. Its people trade at Knoxville.
Spring 1888J. H. Lewis lays out Appleton on the southeast quarter of Section 16, on the north side of the Santa Fe railroad, which gives it a station.
1918Joseph Miles lists a store whose owner is postmaster, a second store with a grain elevator, a blacksmith shop and a United Brethren church. Grain and stock are shipped from the station every year.
1917The United Brethren church builds a parsonage.
1941The USGS Maquon sheet shows a small cluster of buildings at the station, between the railroad and Court Creek's valley.
20th centuryThe town, prone to flooding, shrinks. The post office closes; we found no dates.
1982The USGS Appleton sheet still shows about a dozen buildings on a small grid of streets north of the tracks.
After 1993By Wikipedia's uncited account, the last homes in the original town are moved to higher ground after the Great Flood of 1993.

Site map

Where the town stood

The historic maps below tell most of what we know. The 1941 Maquon sheet shows Appleton as a cluster of buildings on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line where the county road crosses it, with Court Creek just to the south. The 1961 sheet marks it as a small circle on the same line between Knox and Dahinda. The 1982 Appleton sheet shows the town at its last: about a dozen buildings on two short streets east of the county road, a couple more to the west, and Court Creek crossed by a bridge to the south.

Today's topo still labels Appleton at the same spot, with Old Wagon Road on the hill to the north. In the aerial view the ground north of the tracks and east of the road, where the 1982 map drew the houses, is fields, grass and a lane, with a farmstead farther up the road. The Knox County hazard mitigation plan of 2011 lists an Appleton fire station at 1511 Old Wagon Road. We haven't been able to confirm what, if anything, still stands on the original townsite.

USGS topographic map of Appleton: the Appleton label beside a county road and the railroad, with Court Creek below and Old Wagon Road above — **USGS The National Map, topo.** Appleton is labeled where the county road meets the railroad. Court Creek winds below, and Old Wagon Road runs along the hill at the top.

Aerial view of Appleton: a north–south road crossing the railroad, fields and a lane north of the tracks, and a farmstead at the top — **Aerial imagery, closer in.** The road crosses the railroad near the bottom. North of the tracks and east of the road, where the 1982 map shows houses, there are fields and a lane.

Historic maps

Appleton on USGS maps, 1941–1982

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Appleton, 1941 — **Maquon sheet, 1941, 1:62,500** · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Knoxville is the nearest town, about 23 minutes away by our computed route on US 150 and Knox Highway 12, which includes a 1.9-mile loop. From Peoria the drive is I-74 west, then US 150 and Knox Highway 12. Both routes end on Knox Highway 12 at the townsite. The routes come from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

USGS topographic map between Knoxville and Appleton with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Knoxville11.0 miabout 23 min

From North Market Street, turn left on East Main Street (US 150) and follow it east.1.8 mi
Where East Main Street ends, turn left on US 150. After 0.5 mile, where US 150 turns right, the computed route keeps straight on Knox Road 1020 East.1.4 mi
The computed route then turns sharply left twice to turn around at Knox Road 1450 North, and comes back south on Knox Road 1020 E. We haven't checked why the router loops here.1.0 mi
Turn left on US 150 and follow it east.4.9 mi
Turn left on Knox Highway 12 and go north across Court Creek to the townsite.1.9 mi

Google Maps directions Apple Maps OpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

We have no dated source on road surfaces. The routes come from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.
The Knoxville route as computed goes 0.9 mile north on Knox Road 1020 East and 1.0 mile back, a 1.9-mile loop, before heading east on US 150. Its distance and time include the loop. In the route data US 150 itself turns east at that junction, 0.5 mile after the end of East Main Street; without the loop the drive is about 9.1 miles.
Wikipedia describes the town as prone to flooding from Court Creek. Don't drive through water over the road.
Land ownership on the townsite is unknown to us. Stay on the public road.

Photos

Have photos of Appleton?

We haven’t added more photographs of Appleton yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Appleton?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Appleton

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Illinois index.

Midway17.0 mi S · Fulton
Bybee23.4 mi S · Fulton
Sugarville26.0 mi S · Fulton
Civer28.6 mi S · Fulton
Totten Prairie33.1 mi S · Fulton
Morse33.7 mi NE · Stark
Tuscumbia36.8 mi S · Fulton
Lone Tree Corners39.2 mi NE · Bureau

Sources

Sources and credits

Wikipedia, "Appleton, Illinois", revision of September 13, 2026: location, Knox Highway 12, the railroad and Court Creek, the 1888 founding, grain and stock shipping, the post office, flooding, the empty townsite (a sentence added September 16, 2010, by the page history), the uncited 1993 move, the fire department, and coordinates (GNIS).
Joseph W. Miles, "1918 Annals: Persifer Township", in Annals of Knox County (1921), as transcribed by the Knox County ILGenWeb project: the 1888 founding by J. H. Lewis, the station, the stores, postmaster, grain elevator, blacksmith shop, United Brethren church and its 1917 parsonage.
Knox County ILGenWeb, "Persifer Township": the 1886 county album's note that the township had no town.
Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, Knox County, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, March 2011: the Appleton fire station at 1511 Old Wagon Road.
Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

The 1941 USGS Maquon sheet: Appleton at the Santa Fe station, between the hills of Section 16 and Court Creek: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
1969 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ILHAP), source, Public domain
2019 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain
Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Maquon 1941, 1:62,500; Burlington 1961, 1:250,000; Appleton 1982, 1:24,000.