History

A Rich History

Yes, Abe often visited here.

In fact, Mr. Lincoln rode right through White Oak Township before he moved to Washington as a circuit rider along with his pals David Davis, Jesse Fell, and others. There is a historical marker north of town on Church Street to prove it. We're proud of that, but we're skipping ahead of ourselves.

The first settlers of White Oak Grove came in 1829. In 1836 John McGee purchased a tract of land located on a hilltop. You can find that hill on 825 East Road (Sunset Lake Road).  A sign marks the site to this day. In 1837 McGee filed a plat with the State of Illinois for a new village to be named Livingston. Livingston failed to develop and its plat was abandoned in 1941 by an act of the Illinois legislature. In about 1850 there began to be a cluster of homes along the White Oak Trail which residents referred to as Oak Grove. By 1852 William Platt was operating a confectionary and notion store at the village's main intersection. In 1858 the Illinois legislature decided that townships would be allowed to create a local township government, so the Oak Grove residents met to create what is now called White Oak Township. In 1863 Joseph Zook built what was likely the first general store in Oak Grove. The plat of Oak Grove was not filed until 1878 and by then it was a vibrant village with a post office, multiple stores, two blacksmiths, a wagon maker, a cabinet maker, a butcher, and a town hall. 

Oak Grove was eventually abandoned when the newly constructed railroad came through.
A new town, Carlock, was established next to that railroad in 1888. 

Carlock has had a prosperous past and has a vibrant future.  Your Board of Township Trustees is here to serve the township in the shaping of that future.

Information submitted by: Mike Miller