Woodburn, Illinois

City: Woodburn

County: Macoupin

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 39.0475, -90.0120

Woodburn is a community located in southern Macoupin County, northwest of Bunker Hill and twelve miles north of the Wood River. White settlers began to emigrate from Kentucky to the area that would become Woodburn in 1830. Benjamin F. Edwards, proprietor of the land on which Woodburn would be built, established a village in 1833. In 1834, surveyors platted and laid out the village. Churches, business, and public services followed in 1835 and 1836. In 1837, the U.S. Post Office established a post office at Woodburn. The routing of railroads through Bunker Hill and its subsequent growth and development prevented Woodburn from growing and developing. It would not be until after the Civil War that Woodburn received a town charter.

History of Macoupin County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1879), 142; Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2010), 381.