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History · Cisco

Cisco’s post office opened in 1874, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1937 on and the census since 1880.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Dual Freq · CC BY 2.5
Quick answers

How Cisco began

When was Cisco founded?

1874

The Cisco post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 173 in 18802020 census: 254152 years
Founding year: the first Cisco post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Cisco’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 Cisco are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 398 in 1960; 254 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Cisco’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cisco’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Cisco, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 398

Peaked at 398 in 1960; 254 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Cisco, in brief

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

Cisco is a village in Piatt County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Cisco had a population of 254.

Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 261 to 254 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Cisco, 1874 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Cisco post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1937On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 398
By decade

Cisco, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Cisco limits sign 2026-09-12 cropped2026Cisco limits sign 2026-09-12 croppedCisco Illinois Post Office2007Cisco Illinois Post OfficeCisco Illinois Old Train Depot and grain elevator2007Cisco Illinois Old Train Depot and grain elevatorCisco Illinois Grain elevator and Water Tower2007Cisco Illinois Grain elevator and Water TowerCisco Illinois Fire Station2007Cisco Illinois Fire Station
On the map

Cisco on the map, 1937 to 1979

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

Cisco on the 1937 USGS mapCisco on the 1943 USGS mapCisco on the 1979 USGS map1937Monticello 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 Cisco.

Questions about Cisco’s history

What year was Cisco founded?

The Cisco post office opened in 1874, 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 →
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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 Wikimedia Commons (5), 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.