New Berlin, IL

New Berlin is a Sangamon County village founded in 1838 by mostly German immigrants, with the Wabash Railroad later running through the prairie settlement. The Potawatomi Trail of Death also passed through the area that year, giving the village's early map a difficult history alongside its settlement story. New Berlin is home to the Sangamon County Fair, revived in 1950 by the New Berlin Community Club and later moved to its own grounds. It is a central Illinois place where a railroad village, a removal route, and a county fair share one name.