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History · Lima

Lima’s post office opened in 1836, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1836first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
2famous people
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Quick answers

How Lima began

When was Lima founded?

1836

The Lima post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 148190 years
Founding year: the first Lima post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lima’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 Lima are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1836: 190 years of Lima.Old housesHalf of Lima’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lima’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lima’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
Timeline

Lima, 1836 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1836Post officeThe Lima post office opens
  3. 1842Born hereIsaac Whiting is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1941Born hereJudy Koehler is born here
The story

How Lima came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lima.

Read it all →

Lima was platted in 1833, the year that the first store was established in the village, by Dr. Joseph Orr. Orr named the village Lima after Lima, Peru, on the suggestion of a Peruvian friend. In 1839 a large number of Latter-day Saints settled at this location. An LDS stake was organized here in 1840 and a conference here in 1841 had more than 400 Latter-day Saints presence. The Latter-day Saints left in 1845 due to mob violence.

As of 1955, Lima was the principal community of Lima Township, Illinois.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Lima in 1879

Passages that mention Lima, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Lima. — The town of Lima to be one precinct, and the place of voting to be at the " Beebe House," in the village of Lima. Jfunfi/ Creek. — The town of Honey Creek to be one precinct, and the place of voting to be at the school house, on section sixteen.
The history of Adams County, Illinois1879 · page 320Read the page →
Read the text

Lima. — The town of Lima to be one precinct, and the place of voting to be at the " Beebe House," in the village of Lima. Jfunfi/ Creek. — The town of Honey Creek to be one precinct, and the place of voting to be at the school house, on section sixteen.

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.

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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Famous people

2 famous people were born in Lima

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

See all →
Judy KoehlerAmerican politician · b. 1941
I
Isaac WhitingThird president of The Church of Jesus Christ · b. 1842

Questions about Lima’s history

What year was Lima founded?

The Lima post office opened in 1836, 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 →
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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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.