Lawndale, Illinois

Lawndale, Illinois
Unincorporated community
The Lawndale grain elevator (with old "Faultless Feed" sign) is the most visible building.
Lawndale, Illinois
Coordinates: 40°13′05″N 89°16′57″W / 40.21806°N 89.28250°WCoordinates: 40°13′05″N 89°16′57″W / 40.21806°N 89.28250°W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Logan
Elevation	600 ft (200 m)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	61751
Area code(s)	217
GNIS feature ID	411862[1]

Lawndale is a community in Logan County, Illinois, United States which lies northeast of Springfield. The town lies on Interstate 55, part of the old Route 66, between Atlanta and Lincoln. The town lies just south of Kickapoo Creek. The town has one tavern, a grain elevator, and a converted mobile home as its post office.

Lawndale was laid out and platted in 1854, soon after the Alton & Sangamon (now Chicago & Alton) railroad was extended to that point.^[2] A post office called Lawndale has been in operation since 1855.^[3]

There are reports that on July 25, 1977, two giant unidentified birds, known in cryptozoology as "thunderbirds," passed over Lawndale. One swooped down and grabbed ten-year-old Marlon Lowe from his backyard, dropping him soon after, most likely due to the loud screams of his mother, who was watching along with six other witnesses. The description of the birds given by witnesses matched that of the Andean condor; however, the Andean condor's talons are not strong enough to lift heavy objects, let alone a human child.^[4]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lawndale, Illinois
2. Stringer, Lawrence Beaumont (1911). History of Logan County, Illinois: A Record of Its Settlement, Organization, Progress, and Achievement. Unigraphic. p. 628.
3. "Logan County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
4. Heinselman, Craig (2009). "Thunderbird". Cryptids. CryptoZoology.com. Retrieved 2009-08-05.