e-mail: wcilhs@gmail.com

Wayne County Historical Society

Wayne County Historical SocietyWayne County Historical SocietyWayne County Historical Society

Wayne County Historical Society

Wayne County Historical SocietyWayne County Historical SocietyWayne County Historical Society
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Wayne County, IL History / Archives

 Welcome to the main page for the History and Archives of the Wayne County.   

This page is organized by communities, people, events, and a useful timeline.

Archives are housed at the Fairfield Public Library.  

Site Content

Communities

Communities

Timeline / Events

People  (Local Legacy Award)

Landmarks  (Local Landmarks Award)

Archives / Artifacts / Art



Communities

County Seat

Fairfield was laid out as a town in1819, continues to be the largest town in Wayne County.     Read more here. 

Villages 

 Cisne, Golden Gate, Jeffersonville (Geff), Johnsonville, Keenes, Mt. Erie, Sims, Wayne City    Read more here

Unincorporated areas

Barnhill, Ellery, Mayberry, Rinard, Wynoose, Zenith

Townships

Arrington, Barnill, Bedford, Berry, Big Mound, Elm River, Four Mile, Garden City, Grover, Hickory Hill, Indian Prairie, Jasper, Keith, Larmard, Leech, Massilon, Mount Erie, Orchard, Orel, Ziff

Wayne County Courthouse Page


Communities

People

People shape history.  From the earliest pioneers to current day movers and shakers, read about the PEOPLE of Wayne County. 

People

Events

Timeline    1800s      1900s      2000s   

Fairfield

 Fairfield was laid out as a town in 1819, on land donated by the Barnhill family. The actual plat was not recorded until 6 years later.  The original town essentially covered the blocks around the courthouse square with business activity extending to First Street.  According to some records, Fairfield’s first businessman was Samuel Leech; other information suggests a Carter began the first store.  Either way, the village remained quite small for its first thirty years.  

County

 While Fairfield is the county seat, several villages were also economic centers during the earliest era. These brief summaries are primarily based on the 1884 History of Wayne and Clay Counties, an 1881 Atlas, and archival notes.   Read more here.

Schools

 You are invited to participate in this project devoted to gathering all the surviving information on Wayne County’s  more than 150 rural schools.   A Rural Schools Survey is available for anyone who attended a country school (including Cisne, Wayne City, Mt. Erie, and Geff High Schools) or wishes to interview a former student or teacher.  Along with this, the Society is gleaning its archives for school records, photographs, written recollections, and artifacts.  The collection will be organized into a permanently archived file.   In addition, as much of the written and photographic material as feasible will be gathered into notebooks.  Sample entries will be available at the Fairfield Public Library reference section.  Complete original files are available in the Early History Museum & Archives.  Please use our contact form to send us information.


Archives

Archives are housed at the Fairfield Public Library 

Don't let local history be a mystery!

....

Copyright © 2022 Wayne County Historical Society - All Rights Reserved.  

Note: the text and photographs on this website are copyright protected and may not be reproduced, in part or in whole, without written permission. Text and photographs may not be excerpted, copied, or scanned into for-profit websites or publications. To obtain permission,  for non-profit usecontact us at wcilhs@gmail.com

  • Early History Museum
  • Hanna House Museum

Updated 9/2022

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