Travel Guide Chatham

Auburn has the distinction of having been founded twice. The first time, in 1835, by the Eastman family - George and Asa, along with their sister Hannah, who are said to have chosen "Auburn" in reference to a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village. However, when the Alton and Sangamon Railroad was built further east, "Old Auburn" became desertified and was doomed to disappear. The town was reborn in 1865 with its original name. It became an important stop on Route 66 in the 1920s. The Snell Raod, a few miles east, is one of the most popular Illinois relics for those nostalgic for the Mother Road.