The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusLerna is a village in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 226 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thomas Lincoln, the father of President Abraham Lincoln, spent the later part of his life on a homestead a few miles from Lerna, which is now preserved as the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. Thomas Lincoln and his second wife Sarah Bush Lincoln are buried in Shiloh Cemetery south of town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 286 to 226 (-21%). Half of its homes were built before 1957.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lerna yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Start Lerna’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lerna’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Lerna
See all 1 →Lerna, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Lerna is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Lerna has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Shiloh Encampment Site in Pleasant Grove, 4.9 miles away.
Lerna and the nearest listed places
Closest to Lerna
Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Shiloh Encampment SitePleasant Grove · Site4.9mi
Fifteenth Street and Oklahoma Avenue Brick StreetMattoon · Structure5.3mi
Will Rogers Theatre and Commercial BlockCharleston · Building5.7mi
Burgess-Osborne Memorial AuditoriumMattoon · Built 19536.3mi
U. S. Post OfficeMattoon · Building6.4miHow a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.