Germantown, IL

Germantown is a Clinton County village with a name that still tells you where its early story came from. Settled in 1833, it was first called Hanover, after the German hometown of the first settlers, and is often described as one of Illinois’ earliest true German settlements. Route 161 runs along the south edge, giving the village a straight east-west line toward Centralia and New Baden. Germantown Elementary covers pre-K through eighth grade, so the school sits inside the same compact local orbit. The local shorthand is a small, German-rooted village on Route 161, with St. Louis 39 miles west via I-64.