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History · Hoffman

Hoffman’s post office opened in 1885, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

1885first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Hoffman began

When was Hoffman founded?

1885

The Hoffman post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 439141 years
Founding year: the first Hoffman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Hoffman’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 Hoffman are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Hoffman’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hoffman’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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The story so far

Hoffman, in brief

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

Hoffman is a village in Clinton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 439 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1885. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 508 to 439 (-14%).

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

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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Famous people

Famous people close to Hoffman

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

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Roland BurrisAmerican politician and attorney · b. 1937
James BradyWhite House Press Secretary under Ronald Reagan · b. 1940
David BlackwellAmerican mathematician · b. 1919
D
Dwight EddlemanAmerican basketball player and high jumper · b. 1922
Kirk RueterAmerican baseball player · b. 1970
J
Jack RichardsonAmerican baseball player · b. 1892

Questions about Hoffman’s history

What year was Hoffman founded?

The Hoffman post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 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.