Lena, IL

Lena is a Stephenson County village that grew around the railroad, with 2,772 residents in the 2020 census. Samuel F. Dodds laid out the town after the rail line was surveyed in 1853; trains began running the following year, and Lena became a shipping point for grain and livestock. The village incorporated in 1866. An 1879 opera house still stands, and the 1895 water tower remains part of the old rail-town streetscape. Three miles north, Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area gives Lena a direct connection to a 715-acre state park with a 40-acre lake, multi-use trails, picnic areas, and campgrounds. Its name combines Lena with the Latin aqua, a local bit of wordplay that fits the water-and-rail geography. Lena-Winslow Consolidated School District 202 serves local students. Lena is the kind of northern Illinois village where the main clues are physical: railroad-era buildings in town and a state recreation area just beyond it.