Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ashmore yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ashmore is a village in the Ashmore Township in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 637 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area. Ashmore, Illinois is the only incorporated community in the United States called "Ashmore."
Its first post office opened in 1855. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 785 to 637 (-19%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Ashmore in 1879
Passages that mention Ashmore, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Coles County, Illinois ... map of Coles County1879 · page 592Read the page →
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farm ; after a residence there of about five years, he sold his farm, and removing to a point about two and a half miles northwest of the present village of Ashmore ; he purchased a large tract of land, and became the largest land-owner in the township, owning at one time some 1,600 acres ; he engaged largely in stock-raising,
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The history of Coles county, Illinois..1879 · page 393Read the page →
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Grove, at that time considered the very outskirts of civilization. In I808, he, with his father, Jonathan W. Brown, took a contract to build two sections of the Terre iiaute & Alton Railroad, which they completed in 1840, and, the same TOr. he settled in Ashmore Township, on a farm he still owns, and upon which lit' resided until 1877, when he retired from active labor, and removed into the village of Ashmore, where he at present lives, enjoying a competency won by honest toil. Mr. Brown tells the following story of his "sparking" days: There was living in the neighborhood a family with a grown-up daughter of
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Tlie first stores in the town will be mentioned in the history of the villages and hamlets, as will many other points generally occurring in the township histories. The first regular blacksmith in the town of Ashmore was Peter K. Honn, one of the early settlers, and who opened a shop at Hitesville soon after coming to the settlement. .John Carter was a blacksmith, but did not follow it as a regular business, and when Honn opened a shop, quit it altogether.
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The History of Coles County, Illinois ... map of Coles County1879 · page 393Read the page →
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Joseph Epperson, Charles'D. Phelps and Fountain Turner were from the old Blue- Grass State. Carter was from the Crab Orchard country, and came to Illinois in 1830, arriving in this township on the 13th of April, and settled a short distance east of the present village of Ashmore. He has two sons living — Shelton Carter, in Ashmore Township, and Joseph Carter, in Morgan Township ; both are honorable, upright citizens. A daughter married John Austin, and lives on the place where Mr. Carter built his first cabin. Mrs. Joseph Reed is also a daughter, and Mrs. Catharine Young, living in Washington Territory. Mr.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Ashmore, 1855 to 1913
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
