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History · Buckingham

Buckingham’s post office opened in 1878, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1923 on and the census since 1890.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Buckingham began

When was Buckingham founded?

1878

The Buckingham post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 158 in 18902020 census: 244148 years
Founding year: the first Buckingham post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Buckingham’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Buckingham are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 340 in 1990; 244 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Buckingham’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Buckingham’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Buckingham, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 340

Peaked at 340 in 1990; 244 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Buckingham’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Buckingham, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Buckingham yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Buckingham is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 244 at the 2020 census. The village is about 63.7 miles south west of Chicago Illinois. It is included in the Kankakee-Bradley, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Coal Branch line of the Kankakee and Southwestern Railroad branched off in Buckingham and ran to the now lost, nearby towns of Clarke City and Tracy.

Its first post office opened in 1878. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 300 to 244 (-19%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Buckingham, 1866 to 1990

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Born hereLevi G. Nutt is born here
  3. 1878Post officeThe Buckingham post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1923On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 340
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Buckingham on the map, 1923 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Buckingham. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Buckingham on the 1923 USGS mapBuckingham on the 1973 USGS map1923Herscher sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Buckingham.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Buckingham

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
H
Helen NethercuttAmerican businesswoman
Levi G. NuttAmerican law enforcement officer · b. 1866

Questions about Buckingham’s history

What year was Buckingham founded?

The Buckingham post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.