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History · Loami

Loami’s post office opened in 1855, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Loami began

When was Loami founded?

1855

The Loami post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lick Creek (1840), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 812171 years
Founding year: the first Loami post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Loami’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

Loami, in brief

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

Loami is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Loami had a population of 812. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is adjacent to the Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary, a parcel of tallgrass prairie replanted on the loam soil after which the village is named. The village was incorporated July 29, 1875.

Its first post office opened in 1855. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 745 to 812 (+9%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Loami in 1912

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

located on Section 14. During 1881, he had moved to his present home in Loami Township, but in the spring of 1888, he moved to Cass County, Mo., settling on the eighty acres his father had given him there. In 1888, he came back to his farm in Loami, where he remained until 1893, at which time he we…
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Sangamon County1912 · page 1094Read the page →
Read the text

located on Section 14. During 1881, he had moved to his present home in Loami Township, but in the spring of 1888, he moved to Cass County, Mo., settling on the eighty acres his father had given him there. In 1888, he came back to his farm in Loami, where he remained until 1893, at which time he went to Macoupin County, but two years later, he again returned

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.

Timeline

Loami, 1840 to 1855

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840Post officeThe Lick Creek post office opens
  3. 1855Post officeThe Lick Creek post office closes
  4. 1855Post officeThe Loami post office opens
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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Loami’s post office has been open since 1855. Another post office, Lick Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lick Creek
1840–1855
Loami
1855–today
18401930today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Loami’s history

What year was Loami founded?

The Loami post office opened in 1855, 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 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.