Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Alvan, IL

Alvan is a village in South Ross Township, Vermilion County, in eastern Illinois, and it is part of the Danville metropolitan statistical area.

The first settlement here was founded in 1872 about a mile south of the present village along the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, and it was called Gilbert in honor of its founder, Alvan Gilbert.

The present town was founded around 1875 where the new Havana, Rantoul and Eastern Railroad, which later became part of the Illinois Central, crossed the C&EI north of Gilbert.

Local tradition says the town's name became 'Alvin' with an i because the post office misspelled Alvan and refused to correct the error, though the U.S. Census Bureau still uses the Alvan spelling.

Alvan was incorporated on May 22, 1893.

On March 16, 1942, a tornado struck Alvan at 11:40 in the morning, causing much destruction and killing six people, whose names are listed on a memorial marker placed in the village in 2004.

The village population peaked at 386 in 1920 and has declined since; the 2020 census counted 233 people, and the 2000 census counted 316 people living in 106 households.

The North Fork of the Vermilion River flows past the west side of the village, which sits about 3.6 miles north of Bismarck and 12 miles north of Danville on just 0.79 square miles of land.

Alvan is served by Rossville-Alvin Community Unit School District 7, but the district's high school in Rossville stopped operating in 2006, so local high school students attend schools such as Bismarck-Henning or Hoopeston Area instead.