Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Buffalo yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Buffalo is a village in Mechanicsburg Township in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Buffalo had a population of 447. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1868. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 503 to 447 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Buffalo in 1881
Passages that mention Buffalo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Sangamon County, Illinois1881 · page 955Read the page →
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The village was platted and recorded under the name of Buffalo, the railroad company named the station Mechanicsburg; while the post office was called Watson. It was only after several years of continuous eft'ort that the names of the station and post office were changed to Buffalo. These several names caused much perplexity and difficulty, as may well be imagined.
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History of Sangamon County, Illinois1881 · page 807Read the page →
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Buffalo Hart had its horse mill at an early day, Thomas Skinner erecting one on his place, which answered the purposes of the farmers, for want of something better. No other grist mill has ever been erected, but in 1861, Robert Cass built a saw-mill about the center of the grove, and in 1874 moved it to its present location, at Buffalo Hart station. The mill is an excellent
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
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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 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.
