Loami, IL

Loami is a Sangamon County village of 812 residents in the 2020 census, part of the Springfield metropolitan area and named for the dark loam soil around its prairie. The first house on Lick Creek was built in 1818, the village was laid out and platted in 1854, and it incorporated on July 29, 1875. A post office moved from Lick Creek to Loami in 1856, followed by stores and the everyday institutions of a small farming place.

That prairie connection is still visible at Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary, a 120-acre nonprofit preserve about two miles southeast, where tallgrass has been replanted along Lick Creek. Church Street, the old town hall, Loami Market, fire department, and local historical-preservation work keep the village's center legible. A square of stores, churches, and civic buildings still organizes village life. Lick Creek remains close to town today. The surrounding creek, fields, and prairie preserve give Loami a landscape with more layers than its size suggests.