Auburn

History

Auburn was originally platted in 1836, a mile north of its present location. It was one of several towns named Auburn that were platted in Illinois during the town lot boom of the 1830s. Their sister Hannah named it for Auburn, Maine, near their family home. The miners were mostly new arrivals, but the descendants of old settlers owned many of the local businesses. In 1896, the Auburn post office was the site of the first Rural Free Delivery service in Illinois, part of a nationwide test. Three rural letter carriers rode 35-mile routes. The experiment was well-received: some local farmers changed their post office to Auburn to take advantage of the new system. The brick paving was not completed until 1931, when US 66 had already been realigned to the east.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Auburn has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Glenwood High School
  High · Chatham · 1,504 students · 17.7:1 ratio
• Glenwood Middle School
  Middle · Chatham · 753 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• Glenwood Intermediate Sch
  Middle · Chatham · 726 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• Ball Elementary School
  Elementary · Chatham · 607 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• Glenwood Elementary School
  Elementary · Chatham · 595 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Chatham Elem School
  Elementary · Chatham · 470 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Auburn High School
  High · Auburn · 366 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Pawnee Grade School
  Elementary · Pawnee · 312 students · 9.5:1 ratio