Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Odin

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
–Not graded
History · Odin

Odin’s post office opened in 1858, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

1858first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Odin began

When was Odin founded?

1858

The Odin post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1865.

2020 census: 935168 years
Founding year: the first Odin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1865.The full story ↓

What stands out about Odin’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 Odin are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Odin’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Odin’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

How Odin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Odin.

Read it all →

Odin originally was settled chiefly by Scandinavians. The village was named after Odin, a god in ancient Germanic tradition.

The Territory of Illinois was separated from that of Indiana in 1809. The newly appointed governor for this territory was Ninian Edwards, and the seat of government established at Kaskaskia. By an act of Congress in April 1818, Illinois was admitted to the Union as the twenty-second state, with Shadrach Bond the first governor.

Marion County was organized on January 24, 1823, and named for General Francis Marion, a hero of the Revolutionary War.

Odin Township originally had the villages of Odin and Sandoval within its boundaries. However, in 1896 it was divided into Odin and Sandoval townships.

ChaptersSchoolsOdin Coal Company

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Odin, 1858 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Odin post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1915Born hereChuck Hawley is born here
  5. 1921Born hereJohnny Sebastian is born here
  6. 1944Born hereDale Risinger is born here
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.
Add from your album
Famous people

3 famous people were born in Odin

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

See all →
J
Johnny SebastianAmerican basketball player · b. 1921
C
Chuck HawleyAmerican baseball player · b. 1915
D
Dale RisingerAmerican politician · b. 1944

Questions about Odin’s history

What year was Odin founded?

The Odin post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1865.

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 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.