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History · Lerna

Lerna’s post office opened in 1878, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1900.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Glenn M. Harden · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Lerna began

When was Lerna founded?

1878

The Lerna post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 396 in 19002020 census: 226148 years
Founding year: the first Lerna post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lerna’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 Lerna are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Lerna’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lerna’s collection

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

Lerna, in brief

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

Lerna is a village in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 226 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thomas Lincoln, the father of President Abraham Lincoln, spent the later part of his life on a homestead a few miles from Lerna, which is now preserved as the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. Thomas Lincoln and his second wife Sarah Bush Lincoln are buried in Shiloh Cemetery south of town.

Its first post office opened in 1878. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 286 to 226 (-21%).

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

Timeline

Lerna, 1878 to 1934

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Lerna post office opens
  3. 1889Born hereCora Meek is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lerna, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Lerna United Methodist Church, August 20092009Lerna United Methodist Church, August 2009
On the map

Lerna on the map, 1934 to 1998

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

Lerna on the 1934 USGS mapLerna on the 1984 USGS mapLerna on the 1998 USGS map1934Mattoon 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 Lerna.

People over time

Lerna, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 396

Between 226 and 396 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Lerna’s history

What year was Lerna founded?

The Lerna post office opened in 1878, 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 (1), 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) 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.