Historical Photo Album

Help us celebrate and preserve Cambria’s history by contributing to our growing collection of historical photos. Whether it’s a family snapshot, community event, or a glimpse of the village from years past, your photos can help tell the story of our village.

To submit a photo, please email: cambriatrustee.marshallbrown@gmail.com

Originally incorporated as Reeves, November 05, 1904, the name was changed to Cambria in 1923. The name “Cambria” was requested by an influential man in the community: Mr. J.J. Thomas. “Cambria” is the ancient name for a county of Wales in the British Isles. Many of the Village’s earliest residents were of Welsh or Scottish-Irish descent.

Records show activity here as early as 1833 when William Ryturn opened a store in the vicinity. Ryturn opened a post office here in May of 1837, and named it “Fredonia” after his daughter. A fitting name, “Fredonia” comes from the French word meaning “prairie.” The Illinois State Gazeteer in 1864-65 shows Fredonia as a post office in the Eight-Mile Township of Williamson County during the Civil War.

The Cambria vicinity was also referred to as Lauder. Lauder was a station on the railroad built as a coal feeder to Johnston City. It was named for Carbondale Mayor Hugh Lauder.

About 1922, Cambria was an active community with three coal mines, a general store, a state bank, a building and loan, a clothing store, a lumber company, a confectionary, drug store, movie theater, blacksmith shop, barber shop, feed store, ice house, several service stations, a garage, a newspaper, watch repair shop, shoe repair shop, a boarding house, bakery, and a pool hall.

J.J. Thomas had a generator and furnished Cambria with its first electricity.

He later sold the franchise to CIPS. The first telephone lines were built in 1924 by the Illinois Southern Telephone Company. General Telephone book took over in 1969. A contract for water service from Carterville began in 1952 and was terminated in 1995 when Cambria began purchasing water directly from the Rend Lake Conservancy District.