State atlas · filed under IL
Ghost Towns of Illinois
Illinois lost coal towns by the dozen when southern seams closed, canal and river landings when the railroads rerouted commerce, and prairie villages consolidated away by the automobile.
581 sites surveyed across Illinois — 2 charted with full records so far, entered by year of settlement. The rest are awaiting verification.
Survey note
The federal place-name archive records 581 vanished or historical sites in Illinois — ghost towns, mining camps, townsites, and railroad stops. We chart them a few at a time, as the records can be verified. Every mark on this map is a place that once had a name.
The full survey ledger
Every vanished town the federal archive records in Illinois — each with its own record page, verified and expanded over time.