Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lacon

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B+History
History · Lacon

Lacon’s post office opened in 1837, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1890 on.

1837first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lacon’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lacon began

When was Lacon founded?

1837

The Lacon post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,878189 years

How historic is Lacon?

B+

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Lacon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Lacon’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lacon is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lacon’s overall grade.
Founding era1837, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194031.1% of homes (±7.7) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational 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 71%
NewerOlder

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 Lacon’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 B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Lacon’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Lacon.Old housesHalf of Lacon’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lacon’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPhotograph with caption "Pontoon Wagon …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Lacon, 1837 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Lacon post office opens
  3. 1890In the archivePhotograph with caption "Pontoon Wagon Bridge, Lacon, ILL."
  4. 20th century
  5. 1917Born hereValerie Allen Marland is born here
  6. 1918Born hereRobert Sproull is born here
  7. 1942In the archive1942 Lacon Tornado (Cropped)
The story

How Lacon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lacon.

Read it all →

Lacon was named after Laconia, a region of Greece. Lacon was established in 1831 and is the oldest town in Marshall, Putnam, Bureau, and Stark Counties. On August 6, 1831, it was laid out as the town of Columbia. The town grew in population after the Black Hawk War.

A Temperance Society was formed July 28, 1836. A Presbyterian Church organized in 1837. A post-office was established in 1837. A newspaper called The Lacon Herald published in December 1837. The name changed from Columbia to Lacon on January 19, 1837. The town expanded with a purchase of an addition on July 3, 1837.

The Marshall County Courthouse was built in 1840 and a county jail in 1844. On June 27, 1842, President Martin Van Buren paid a brief visit to the town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Lacon, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Photograph with caption "Pontoon Wagon Bridge, Lacon, ILL."1890Photograph with caption "Pontoon Wagon Bridge, Lacon,…
1900s–1930snothing 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 album
1940s2 items
1942 Lacon Tornado (Cropped)19421942 Lacon Tornado (Cropped)1942 Lacon Tornado19421942 Lacon Tornado
1950s–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 album
Today3 recent
Lacon Illinois September 20182018Lacon Illinois September 2018ILMap-doton-Lacon2007ILMap-doton-LaconLacon-street-scene-1532005Lacon-street-scene-153
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.

Photograph with caption "Pontoon Wagon Bridge, Lacon, ILL."
Retake this viewPhotograph with caption "Pontoon Wagon Bridge, Lacon, ILL.", 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lacon’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Lacon

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Robert SproullAmerican academic · b. 1918
V
Valerie Allen MarlandFirst Lady of West Virginia · b. 1917

Questions about Lacon’s history

What year was Lacon founded?

The Lacon post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Lacon rank for history?

Lacon is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. 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 Lacon?

31% of Lacon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1959.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.