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History · Gays

Gays’ post office opened in 1882, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1984 on and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: SenorAnderson at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Gays began

When was Gays founded?

1882

The Gays post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 99 in 18902020 census: 218144 years
Founding year: the first Gays post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Gays’ 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 Gays are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 322 in 1910; 218 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Gays’ homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gays’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gays’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

Gays, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 322

Peaked at 322 in 1910; 218 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story so far

Gays, in brief

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

Gays is a village in Moultrie County, Illinois, United States. The population was 218 at the 2020 census, down from 281 in 2010.

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 281 to 218 (-22%).

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

Timeline

Gays, 1882 to 1984

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Gays post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 322
  5. 1984On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gays, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Water tower in2018Water tower inGaysWaterTower2005GaysWaterTower
On the map

Gays on the map, 1984 to 1998

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

Gays on the 1984 USGS mapGays on the 1998 USGS map1984Mattoon West sheet · 1:24,000

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Gays

Nobody well known was born in Gays itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
M
Melbourne Armstrong CarrikerAmerican ornithologist and entomologist · b. 1879
C
Cora MeekAmerican quiltmaker · b. 1889
W
Walter C. LindleyUnited States federal judge · b. 1880
J
John E. CribbetLaw professor and chancellor of the University … · b. 1918
W
William Irving ShumanAmerican banker · b. 1882
E
Earnest Charles WatsonAmerican physicist · b. 1892

Questions about Gays’ history

What year was Gays founded?

The Gays post office opened in 1882, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.