Vandalia, Illinois

City: Vandalia

County: Fayette

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 38.9500, -89.0833

Located in south-central Illinois, thirty miles north of Centralia, Vandalia was the capital of Illinois from 1819 to 1839 and is the county seat of Fayette County. The U.S. Post Office Department opened a post office in Vandalia in December 1820 and the Illinois General Assembly incorporated it as a city in February 1821. Vandalia was also the terminus of the National Road. As a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Abraham Lincoln served in the state house in Vandalia from 1834 to 1839.

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 1284; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1989), 532; History of Fayette County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1878), 46; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 204, 205, 207.