Alhambra, IL

Alhambra is a Madison County village in Illinois’ Metro-East, six miles east of Hamel and 17 miles west of Greenville along Illinois Route 140. The 2020 census counted 622 residents. Route 140 becomes Main Street through the village, giving Alhambra a clear east–west spine and a direct connection to the farm communities between St. Louis’ Illinois suburbs and the smaller towns farther east. The Kaskaskia River watershed reaches the village through Silver Creek, adding a water-landscape thread to the road-centered map.

Alhambra was laid out in 1849, and its name came from Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra. That literary origin sits alongside the practical history of a village organized around a highway, local homes, and the nearby agricultural landscape. The village’s scale keeps the arrangement easy to read: Main Street carries regional traffic, while surrounding roads lead toward Hamel, Greenville, and Madison County farms. Alhambra is a small Metro-East place whose story combines a literary name, a central Illinois road, and a river system that runs just beyond town.