Ashland, IL

Ashland is a Cass County village of 1,218 people at the 2020 census, occupying less than a square mile in the fields and small towns of central Illinois. Locals call it the 'Heart of Lincolnland,' a nickname that places the village in the wider Lincoln country around central Illinois. Its history is tied to rail planning: the Petersburg and Tonica Railroad was surveyed through the area in 1857, and a land company that included James L. Beggs and Elmore Crowe helped turn the proposed stop into a settlement. Ashland had reached business and population milestones by 1869, when it was incorporated.

Today, the village's scale keeps its civic and commercial life close to the streets that grew from that railroad-era plan. The old rail story still shows why Ashland became a town at all, while the surrounding farm roads connect it to the rest of Cass County. Its small footprint and Lincolnland nickname give the place a distinctly local frame: a compact village whose history is bound to transportation, land development, and the agricultural landscape around it.