Roodhouse, IL

Roodhouse grew from a crossroads into a railroad junction in northern Greene County. John Roodhouse founded the settlement in the 1850s, and its first name - The Crossroads - fit the meeting point of roads that later became part of U.S. 67. The Chicago and Alton Railway opened a station in 1860 after local residents helped secure funds for a depot and warehouse. Its Louisiana branch reached the junction in 1871, pulling trade and population into town. The 2020 census counted 1,578 residents.

Roodhouse incorporated as a city in 1880. Passenger service ended in the 1950s, but Hotel Roodhouse, the city's surviving railroad-era hotel, remains listed on the National Register of Historic Places. U.S. 67 still runs through the center, leading 22 miles north to Jacksonville and 13 miles south to Carrollton. The route gives Roodhouse a practical regional role, while the old depot-era street pattern keeps the railroad story close. This is a town where a founder's name, a junction, and a highway still line up on the same map.