Welcome to Sylvan ...

So far, we found very little information about Sylvan. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Sylvan to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Sylvan, please Contact Us.

Sylvan would have been located within present day Cass County<2>.

Google driving directions from your current location to Sylvan

We aren't confident of the location of Sylvan, so consider the above location to be an estimate.<3>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Sylvan, you might consider that their post office opened in 1885.

While the community is gone, the present day location for Sylvan is 600 feet [183 m] above sea level.<4>.

Time Zone: The area where Sylvan was located is in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

The Area Codes where Sylvan was located: 217 & 447<5>

Communities Also Named Sylvan ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 16 communities that are also named Sylvan - they are located in Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania (3), Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

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

Communities near Sylvan ...

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

Jacksonville
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacksonville
- Jacksonville is located in Morgan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 18,488 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jacksonville <6>
Beardstown
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beardstown
- Beardstown is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,335 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beardstown <6>
Petersburg
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersburg
- Petersburg is located in Menard County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,207 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Petersburg <6>
Athens
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athens
- Athens is located in Menard County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,893 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Athens <6>
Virginia
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virginia have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia
- Virginia is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,406 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virginia <6>
New Berlin
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Berlin have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Berlin
- New Berlin is located in Sangamon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,329 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Berlin <6>
Ashland
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
- Ashland is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,169 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ashland <6>
Pleasant Plains
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
- Pleasant Plains is located in Sangamon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 792 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pleasant Plains <6>
Greenview
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenview have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenview
- Greenview is located in Menard County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 715 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greenview <6>
Chandlerville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandlerville
- Chandlerville is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chandlerville <6>

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 Sylvan. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Sylvan.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Sylvan. 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 Sylvan.

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

Adding Sylvan to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Sylvan 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 for Sylvan was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

From that list, the Sylvan post office opened in 1885.

We also found Sylvan in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Sylvan.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov

Footnotes ...

<1>	We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Sylvan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>	If you're interested in how the shape of Illinois' counties, including Cass, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<3>	An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>	The elevation is an estimate for the area around Sylvan - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>	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 Sylvan area will be assigned with one of these codes: 217 or 447. As a result, placing a call in the Sylvan area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<6>	While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>	The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<8>	A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/