Catlin is a village in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,040 at the 2010 census, and 1,952 in 2018. Catlin is the hometown of Illinois State Representative Chad Hays, who represents the 104th Representative District of Illinois. History In the spring of 1820, a man by the name of James Butler, originally from Vermont, came here from Clark County in Ohio. He took up a claim just west of the present village site, built a cabin, put in a crop and headed back to Ohio for his family. Several families settled here with him, and the settlement was named Butler's Point. Butler chose this spot to settle because of the good stand of timber that pointed far out into the surrounding prairie. Also, Butler was the first farmer in what is now known as Vermilion County, Illinois. The Village remained Butler's Point until the railroad came through and began having an influence on the community. The railroad here was one of the first chartered in the state. It was known as the "Northern Cross Railroad." When the railroad was built, around 1837-1840, many of the farmers were hostile at having their land divided. In addition to this, the railroad had not provided for a station stop in the village. Stories are told that this angered the farmers still more, and they vowed to "get even". A group of them went into the timber and cut a couple of trees with huge forks in them. They dug deep holes on both sided of the track and set the tree trunks firmly in them. Then they placed the largest log that they could handle in the forks, reaching across the tracks. They hid themselves to see what would happen. In due time, a train came along and of course, the engineer brought it to a stop. He then approached the log very slowly and bumped it just to see how solid the barricade was. He backed the train about a half-mile, then turned on full steam and hit the barricade at top speed. Needless to say, the log took a flight through the air and the farmers felt that they had failed. But not for long! They next tried putting soft soap on the rails in order to make the trains stop. Because of rip grade in the track,