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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Rayville ...

Rayville is located in Vermilion County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Rayville, you might consider that their post office opened in 1882.

Rayville is 670 feet [204 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Rayville lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you travel east from Rayville (for example, toward West Lebanon (IN)), you will soon leave Central Time and cross into the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT).

Area Codes for Rayville: 217 & 447<3>

Communities Also Named Rayville ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 9 communities that are also named Rayville - they are located in Kansas (2), Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Texas and Washington.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Rayville.

Communities near Rayville ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Rayville.

  • Danville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Hoopeston
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Westville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Tilton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Tilton is located in Vermilion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,655 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tilton <4>
  • Covington
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Catlin
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Catlin is located in Vermilion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catlin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,899 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Catlin <4>
  • Williamsport
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Oakwood
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Rossville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Gifford
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Rayville. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Rayville.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Rayville. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Rayville.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Rayville. See our Newspapers Page for Rayville.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Rayville ...

Looking for more information about Rayville? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Rayville, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Rayville.

Adding Rayville to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Rayville in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Rayville was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Rayville post office opened in 1882. The Rayville post office closed in 1883.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Rayville.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Illinois' counties, including Vermilion, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Rayville - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 217 code has been Overlayed with the 447 area code. New phone numbers in the Rayville area will be assigned with one of these codes: 217 or 447. As a result, placing a call in the Rayville area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/