Havana’s history extends back to prehistoric times. Indeed, the name Havana is applied by archaeologists to a particular regional Indigenous network of interacting societies collectively known as Hopewell. The Havana Hopewell tradition was first defined and characterized at the Havana Site, a habitation village site and associated mound group that lies east of the current town of Havana. This site was tested by W.K. Moorehead in the 1920s and excavated more fully by the University of Illinois in the late 1920s to late 30s. 
map of the Havana Mound Group
The Rockwell Mound, in Havana itself, also is a very important archaeological site. It is believed to have been constructed around 150 A.D. and is the largest mound in the entire Illinois River Valley that was built by Havana Culture native people. Originally, Rockwell Mound stood 14-feet high and covered two acres. The Rockwell Mound site was a trading and ceremonial center. Trade routes that crossed much of the mid-continent came through there. In 1987 Rockwell Mound was inscribed on the National Register of HIstoric Places.
Havana acknowledges its Native American past not just through its conservation of Rockwell Mound, but through an act of commemoration at the entrance to Lucas Bridge, just before crossing the Illinois River. This four-sided illustrated column (see image below) was erected in 1985. It portrays a male Native American and is capped by a great eagle. There is an excellent explanatory plaque.
The area of Havana was surveyed in 1827 for Ossian Ross, who started the first business which was a canoe ferry. This makes sense because Havana is located on the Illinois River. Havana was incorporated as a town in 1848.
Havana has three connections to Abraham Lincoln. The first is that Lincoln and his friend,John Todd Stuart, stopped in Havana en route back home after serving for three months in 1832 in the Black Hawk War. The men had bought a canoe in Peoria and from there they paddled down the Illinois River to Havana, where they disembarked. Lincoln then walked 23 miles to New Salem. The marker is in the riverside park.
The second Abraham Lincoln connection concerns the Mason County Courthouse, which was part of Lincoln’s circuit as a traveling lawyer. The marker, erected in 1921 by the Lincoln Circuit Marking Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution, indicates that Havana was on his route in the Eighth Judicial Circuit between 1847-1857. The Courthouse marker is historically connected to the Lincoln disembarkation marker because after the Black Hawk War and after New Salem, Lincoln moved to Springfield where Stuart encouraged him to become a lawyer.
The two markers indicating earlier periods in Lincoln’s life culminate at Rockwell Mound where
Lincoln gave a speech on August 14, 1858 – the day after Stephen A. Douglas spoke in the same spot. The context was their contest in the U.S. Senate campaign. Lincoln arrived by steamboat on the 13th. He spent the night in Havana with friends and spoke the next day. His two-hour speech highlighted his opposition to slavery. After the speech he remained in Havana campaigning and with friends He departed Havana on August 17.
Havana entered the Civil War on the Union side. Mason County erected this monument as a tribute to the Union soldiers. The cannons refer to the Grand Army of the Republic. The bald eagle is the emblem of the nation.
Havana prospered after the Civil War as seen by several key buildings. An opera house was built in 1888. Havana’s iconic water tower was built in 1889 in the style of a lighthouse. Until 1962, it was Havana’s only supply of water. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But the NRHP designation does not guarantee survival. The tower’s water was drained in 2012 out of fear that the structure’s stability was not reliable. Every effort should be made to maintain this marvel.
Havana is also distinguished by having a Carnegie public library that is the oldest continuously functioning one in Illinois. The library was built in 1902 as a dedicated building, after first being established, in 1896, in a room in city hall. 
Photo: Joanne Zienty
Also contributing to Havana’s prosperity was its cigar industry, although not nearly to the degree as in nearby Canton, which was the center of cigar production in central Illinois and, possibly, the Midwest. Still, the fortuitous name of the town – Havana – may have had some cachet of presumed authenticity.
The role of the Illinois River for Havana cannot be overstated. By 1900 Havana had become a center for fishing and hunting. Indeed, Havana was the most important inland fishing port in the United States. Havana’s economy boomed into the 1920s – 1940s as a result. Population peaked at about 5,000. Havana had an industrial and tourism industry. There were hotels, restaurants, bars and gambling houses to entertain the sport hunters and sport fishermen. It is said that Al Capone frequented Havana. There were four floating fish markets in addition to five major grocery stores three movie theaters, and three drugstores.
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The Illinois River is still integral to Havana. Havana uses the riverfront for summer concerts and residents use it for recreation. Its beautiful bridge enables the traveler to see the riverine landscape as well as its functioning industrial character along the banks and on the water.
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The new history museum will include material on Jack Tanner Towing and the barge industry of the Illinois River.
And it will include the beautiful Lucas Bridge, originally built in 1936 and reconstructed in 1998. It is a 1,727 ft-long steel truss with deck bridge. The lattice work offers a unique visual experience as one drives across and the view below is both fascinating and scenic. The project thanks photographer John A. Weeks III for the five photos below.
Havana’s early prosperity resulted in the construction of beautiful homes, many of which are still occupied. They have been documented by artist-architect David Alan Badger, who gives fascinating walking tours of the historic neighborhoods.
David Alan Badger drawing
In 2016 an entrepreneurial group of local women, calling themselves the “lady bosses”, and with a remarkable mayor, Brenda Stadshot, and a visionary city council got together and undertook the revitalization of historic downtown Havana. In the following five years buildings were brought back to their former appearance and new commercial functions were created. B&Bs, restaurants and shops now fill the red-bricked streets. The downtown business district is thriving and its architecture has been saved. Havana has a notably appealing streetscape. 
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The similarity between the historic postcard and the streetscape today is already yielding financial and social dividends in Havana.
Indeed, Havana’s self-transformation resulted in it being chosen for exhibition as a Smithsonian Institution Spark! Places of Innovation in 2024.
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And further contributing to the Havana renaissance is the town’s appreciation of its history. A historic building downtown, at 110 N. Plum Street, is going to be the home of the new Havana History Museum, thereby complementing and expanding the story told at the Public Library. The new museum is underway in Fall 2024-Spring 2025 through a collaboration with the Mythic Mississippi Project and other local partners.
Havana has extraordinary community spirit, gumption and sense of identity. Led by visionary local citizens, including entrepreneurs, and supported eagerly and creatively by its municipal government – and lucky by its location – Havana is an anchor of the Western Illinois Pioneer Trail. The goal is to link it to the other communities in the hope that a spillover effect is created.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWJcpM3Nc-Y&list=RDSWJcpM3Nc-Y&start_radio=1
a beautiful song by Edward David Anderson about Havana as a river town
PUBLIC ART: MURALS
Wall murals are a proven, cost-effective way of sprucing up buildings. They also are a reflection of how a building owner or entire town wishes to portray itself. Murals may recall history. They can be advertising for a business. And some are artistic in and of themselves. Regardless, they are eye-catching. Havana has a significant public art program. Let’s look at some of Havana’s wall murals.
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