The Buda post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, French Grove (1837), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 482171 years
Founding year: the first Buda post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Buda’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The village was named after Buda, now a part of Budapest, in Hungary. Buda was chosen in honor of the hometown of exiled Hungarian politician Louis Kossuth.
Buda was established in 1854 to serve the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. It displaced French Grove, Illinois, which had been the post office in the area before the establishment of Buda. Judge Jesse Emmerson and W. H. Bloom opened the first and second stores respectively in Buda. In 1955 Dr. Holoton became the first doctor in the community.
An industrialist named George Chalender founded the Buda Engine Co. in Buda, Illinois, in 1910. The company relocated to Harvey, Illinois, before being acquired by Allis-Chalmers in 1953.
Passages that mention Buda, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The voters and tax-payers of Bureau county, Illinois1877 · page 104Read the page →
Read the text
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was built in 1854. Its length in this county is forty-two miles. The Peoria and Bureau Valley Railroad was built in 1855, and its length in this county is about five miles. The Rushville and Buda Railroad was built in 1870, and seven miles of it is in this county. The Mendota and Prophetstown Railroad was commenced ii^ 1856, completed in 1870, and its length in this county is twenty-seven miles. The Kankakee and Pacific Railroad was graded in 1871, but not completed. About three miles of it is in this county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The voters and tax-payers of Bureau county, Illinois1877 · page 146Read the page →
Read the text
maker, named Louis Stety, also located. In 1869, the flouring mill was built. It has a capacity of one hundred barrels per day. The owners, J. B. Stewart & Co., carry on an extensive business in grain. This same year, the branch railway, known as the Buda and Rushville Railroad, was completed, running between these points. One year afterwards, the Buda Manufacturing Company was organized. The prime movers in this enterprise were Capt. Ford and J. B. Stewart. Stock to the amount of $40,000 was taken, and the manufacture of reapers and mowers at
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
Buda, 1837 to 1996
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.
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 (6), Wikipedia, 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.
1996
1996
1996
1996