The story
Read it all →How Cortland came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cortland.
A post office called Cortland has been in operation since 1892. The town was named after Cortland, New York.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Cortland
Cortland dates to 1865
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns · #663 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Cortland was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1937 on, and the census since 1880.
1865founded
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
3famous people
Quick answers
How Cortland began
When was Cortland founded?
1865
Cortland dates its founding to 1865 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
First census: 953 in 18802020 census: 4,398161 years
How historic is Cortland?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 17% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1849.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cortland’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cortland is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #663 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cortland’s overall grade.
Founding era1865, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.0% of homes (±2.2) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 17%
NewerOlder
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 14%
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cortland’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1865.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Cortland’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cortland’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cortland’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Cortland, census by census
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cortland’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Cortland’s post office has been open since 1892. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Lost Grove
Courtland Station
Courtland
Cortland
18401930today
1cemetery inside Cortland
Mound Rest
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Cortland, 1868–1885
Passages that mention Cortland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of DeKalb County, Illinois1868 · page 483Read the page →
Read the text
About this time a little village of a half-dozen houses, with a tavern, a store, and the usual shops and dwellings, was commenced at Luce's Corners, a half-mile south of the present location of the village of Cortland; but most of the buildings were subsequently moved to the railroad station. The railroad was built in 1853, and a smart little village soon grew up around the station. But its prospects seem to have been not considered brilliant, for in the following year
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of DeKalb County, Illinois1868 · page 485Read the page →
Read the text
The village of Cortland was incorporated in 1800, and T. T. Peck in 1807, and John King in 1868, have, jas President of its Board of Trustees, been members of the Board of Supervisors.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Portrait and biographical album of DeKalb County, Illinois1885 · page 810Read the page →
Read the text
CURING the month of January, 1855, the village of Cortland was laid out by Ezra and Maria Croft. The plat is located on the northwest quarter of section 29, township 40, range 5. In April, 1855, Samuel L. Parker and J. T. Tubby platted the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 29, in connection with that laid out by Mr. and Mrs. Croft, the whole
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Portrait and biographical album of DeKalb County, Illinois1885 · page 245Read the page →
Read the text
business center, but has more particularly distinguished himself in his management of the Sycamore & Cortland Railroad. Amid the manifold perplexities incident to the railroad business, his uniform courtesy and obliging manners, his civility and complaisance, have reflected honor upon his management. This occasion is worthy of Sycamore, whose citizens are always willing to do honor to the
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
Cortland, 1846 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1846
Born hereAlbert J. Hopkins is born here - 1849Post officeThe Lost Grove post office opens
- 1854Post officeThe Lost Grove post office closes
- 1854Post officeThe Courtland Station post office opens
- 1857Born hereArthur Newell Talbot is born here
- 1864Born hereCharles Williams Nash is born here
- 1865FoundingCortland is established
- 1883Post officeThe Courtland Station post office closes
- 1883Post officeThe Courtland post office opens
- 1892Post officeThe Courtland post office closes
- 20th century
- 1937
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1943
In the archiveFreight train operations on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad between Chicago and Cli… - 21st century
- 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 4,398
By decade
Cortland, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1940s2 items
19431950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Cortland on the map, 1937 to 1975
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cortland. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1937Sycamore sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cortland.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewFreight train operations on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. The train rushing …, 1943
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cortland’s page.
Retake this view · +15Famous people
See all →3 famous people were born in Cortland
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Cortland’s history
What year was Cortland founded?
In 1865, according to Wikidata. Cortland’s post office opened in 1849, and the census of 1880 counted 953 people here.
How does Cortland rank for history?
Cortland is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #663 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Cortland?
2% of Cortland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1998.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia, 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), 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.