The earliest references to Sublette as a town are from plat maps dating to the 1850s. At this point in time, Sublette was known as "Hanno" (named for Hanau, Prussia). It was a small cluster of houses just north of the settlement at Knox Grove.
In 1854, the Illinois Central Railroad built a line through Hanno and constructed a depot there for passenger and freight services. A plat map from the following year lists the town's name as being "Soublette" or the "Town of Soublett". The town name was officially changed to "Sublette" by an act of the state legislature in 1857. The name is unaffiliated with the town being sublet from the railroad; it likely traces back to an Americanized spelling of the French surname Soblet.
The village of Sublette occupies parts of Sees. 9, 10, 15 and 16. The Illinois Central railroad buildings, a depot and a warehouse on the northwest corner of Sec. 15, were built in the summer of 1854.
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History of Lee County, Illinois1914 · page 463Read the page →
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The Bettendorf l)rothers (ipt'rate one of the two grain warehouses and do an enormous grain trade. Close to seven hundred thousand dollars has been paid out in the little village of Sublette in one year for grain. All of this business goes over the counters of the Exchange Bank of Sublette, so that one may infer readily that the bank is an exceedingly prosperous one.
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and others. Rev. N. Steele was the first priest. . In 1853 a church was built on Sec. 32, on land owned by A. Stein. A parsonage was also built. This burned in 1869, since which the church has not had a regular priest. The Catholic church built in the village of Sublette in 1868 is a branch of this, also the German Catholic church built a few years ago in May township. Only seven of the original members are left, and meetings are held in the old church only a few times a year.
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History of Lee County, Illinois1914 · page 514Read the page →
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"The first account of this frightful visitation is from a point twelve to fifteen miles, a little south of west from the village of Sublette, at what is known as the Blackburn Herd, where a number of cattle were killed; from there it took an easterly direction, a little north in a zig-zag course, from twenty to forty rods wide, mowing everytlung before it.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Sublette, 1855 to 1952
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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 (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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