Illiopolis, IL

Illiopolis is a village in Sangamon County, part of the Springfield metropolitan area and set on Illinois 72 between Springfield and Decatur. The 2020 census counted 846 residents. Its name combines Illinois with the Greek suffix for city, a grand label for a place that grew from a railroad stop into a farming community. The Wabash Railroad reached the present site in 1856, and the settlement was first called Wilson before taking back the Illiopolis name.

ATTRDual Freq / CC BY 2.5

The village's biggest wartime chapter came from the Sangamon Ordnance Plant, which operated west of town from 1941 to 1945. The 19,200-acre facility made munitions for World War II and employed thousands of people from the surrounding area; residents displaced by the plant were allowed to return when the war ended. Illiopolis later had the full lineup of a self-contained farm town - grain elevators, shops, mechanics, restaurants, social groups, and a movie theater. Many of those businesses have faded, but the railroad name, farm roads, and wartime footprint still give the village a story larger than its current size.