Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Easton, IL

Easton is a village in Mason County, Illinois, that was surveyed and platted in 1872 by John R. Falkner for proprietor James M. Samuels, with the first building begun in late November 1872 and finished by March 1, 1873.

Easton was originally recorded under the name Shermanville, but when the Post Office Department refused a 'Sherman' office because one already existed in Sangamon County, Samuels let Havana postmaster O. C. Easton choose the name — and Easton named it for himself.

A post office has operated at Easton since 1873, with E. D. Terrell, the man who built the village's first building, serving as its first postmaster.

Easton sits almost exactly at the geographical center of Mason County, midway between Havana and Mason City on the railroad, a position that once fueled local hopes it might someday become the county seat.

A fine steam-powered grain elevator costing $7,000 was built at Easton in 1874, and a neat frame schoolhouse costing $3,000 followed in 1877, as the village grew into a grain-shipping point for surrounding farms.

Easton's population peaked at 456 in the 1920 census and has eased down over the century since, reaching 312 residents at the 2020 census.

The 2000 census counted 373 people living in 151 households in Easton, and the village remains a small agricultural community in the heart of central Illinois.