History · Ayers

Ayers’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Ayers. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
0recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

Ayers Township, named after the landowner at the time, was formed from a portion of South Homer Township on 9 September 1885.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Start Ayers’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ayers’s history is told.

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Ayers, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Ayers is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Ayers has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Streibich Blacksmith Shop in Newman, 8.6 miles away.

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Streibich Blacksmith Shop’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Ayers?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Ayers’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
We left the porch light on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Ayers, ILChampaign CountyView boundary

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01