Joy, IL

Joy is a village in Mercer County, Illinois, United States. The 2020 census counted 372 residents. The village was founded in 1869 and named after the president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, J. F. Mercer County Junior High School is located in Joy, in the building that once housed the now defunct Westmer High School. The through line in Joy is the way its history and present-day settings remain visible on the same map. Joy makes the most sense through those concrete details, with its history still visible in the settings people use today. Joy is located in western Mercer County. Illinois Route 17 passes through the village on Center Street, leading east 7 miles to Aledo, the county seat, and west the same distance to its terminus in New Boston, on the Mississippi River.