Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 1
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Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Augusta was founded in 1832 by Joel Catlin and W.D. Abernathy, who was the village's first postmaster. Catlin named Augusta after having a memorable visit to Augusta, Georgia.
On September 18, 1858, soon-to-be President Abraham Lincoln visited Augusta, where he gave a speech and stayed at the home of Elder James Stark. Previously, Lincoln's opponent in the historic Lincoln–Douglas debates, Stephen A. Douglas, had spoken in Augusta. In 1864, Congressman James Garfield (the future president) spoke in Augusta on behalf of Lincoln. Other notable visitors include William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt in the fall of 1900. Only Roosevelt gave a short speech on his trip through Augusta during the campaign.
Passages that mention Augusta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws1880 · page 511Read the page →
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D. Abernethy (brothers-in-law) came to " Oliver's Settlement," from Augusta, Georgia, though they were Eastern men. They located where the town of Augusta now stands, and gave the name to the place. Mr. Catlin resided there, an honored and influential citizen for a number of years, then removed to Jacksonville, where we believe he still lives at an advanced age. Mr. Abernethy was afterward Sheriff of the count)', and subsequently went into business in Warsaw, where he died, about 1850, of cholera.
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History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws1880 · page 512Read the page →
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Augusta also contains the village of Pulaski, named for the patriot Polish count. It was laid out in 1836 by Alexander Oliver, Wm. "McCready and Benjamin Bacon. Its growth has been very slow.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Augusta, 1832 to 1949
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 553 and 1,149 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Augusta’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Augusta’s history
What year was Augusta founded?
In 1832, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Augusta’s post office opened in 1834, and the census of 1880 counted 1,015 people 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
Date?
