The story
Read it all →How Virgil came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Virgil.
Virgil was the site of the 2010 Illinois earthquake's epicenter in the early morning hours of February 10.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Virgil
Virgil’s post office opened in 1893, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: old-book passages.
1893first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Virgil began
When was Virgil founded?
1893
The Virgil post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1990.
2020 census: 289133 years
Founding year: the first Virgil post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1990.The full story ↓
What stands out about Virgil’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Virgil’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Virgil’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Virgil in 1878
Passages that mention Virgil, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The past and present of Kane County, Illinois1878 · page 430Read the page →
Read the text
Virgil on his return trip by way of the only remaining road across the township at that time. He is an honest and consistent follower in the path that John Wesley laid out, and as he enters upon an old gray horse the country since named Virgil, his eyes are opened for sinners to save. It is late in the Fall, and the occasional patches of woodland, dyed in carmine and gold, and resplendent beneath the last ray of the setting sun, inspire his mind with vague fancies of the beautiful as he rides along. He is not a man of sentiment or one accustomed to commune with Nature, yet even for him the glory of the scene
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
Virgil, decade by decade
Today2 recent
2021
2016Places that used to be
Lost post offices and old corners
Virgil had its own post office from 1893 to 1962.
Virgil
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
The Meadows of Virgil
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Virgil’s history
What year was Virgil founded?
The Virgil post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1990.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), 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.