Hampton, IL

Hampton is a village on the Mississippi River in Rock Island County, with river views and a history that reaches back before its current name. In 1834 the site was platted as Milan, but the paper town struggled on the swampy riverfront near the north end of the Rock Island Rapids. Settlers drained the swamps over the nineteenth century, and Hampton emerged as the place name. The 2020 census counted 1,779 residents, down from 1,863 in 2010.

ATTRCtjf83 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Native history remains visible in the village limits and neighboring Illiniwek Forest Preserve, where Woodland-era mounds are recorded. Black’s Store, listed on the National Register, was the first mercantile store in northwestern Illinois; that gives Hampton an unusually concrete link to early commerce. The village is in Hampton School District 29 and United Township High School District 30. Its current shape is easy to read: a river settlement, a preserved store, old earthworks, and a school connection carrying the place into the present. Hampton has a smaller profile than nearby Rock Island-area cities, but its story has several layers packed into the river edge.