Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Mechanicsburg, IL

Mechanicsburg is a small village in Sangamon County, about 18 miles northeast of Springfield, Illinois, and is part of the Springfield metropolitan area.

Mechanicsburg was platted in 1832 by William Pickrell, who offered a free town lot to any "mechanic" — in that era meaning a skilled tradesman such as a blacksmith or wheelwright — who would put up a building, which is how the village got its name.

Mechanicsburg had a population of 662 at the 2020 census, up 12.2 percent from 590 in 2010; the village has been counted in every census since 1850, when it had just 201 residents.

The village covers just 1.07 square miles, all of it land, and as of the 2000 census it had 172 households, with its own ZIP code, 62545.

Mechanicsburg's fate turned on a railroad decision: the village opposed construction of the Wabash Railroad through town, so the line was routed through Buffalo instead, and Mechanicsburg residents had to haul people and goods to Buffalo's depot.

Abraham Lincoln was a regular visitor to the Mechanicsburg area, because William Pickrell and his brother Jesse were friends and political supporters of Lincoln.

Mechanicsburg students are served by the Tri-City School District, which was formed in 1938 and was the first unified school district in Illinois.

The village celebrated its centennial in 1932 — one hundred years after its platting — with a locally written history, "The Home Town," by resident Ida Freeto.

Despite sitting just south of Interstate 72, Mechanicsburg has remained a quiet farming-community village of well under 1,000 people for its entire history — and its 662 residents in 2020 were actually its highest census count ever recorded.