Wilmington, IL (Village)

Wilmington is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States. The 2020 census counted 5,664 residents. Located on Illinois Route 53 and Historic U.S. Route 66 along the east bank of the Kankakee River, it is approximately 60 miles south-west from downtown Chicago. Wilmington is just south of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, which is home to the largest bison herd in the state. Wilmington's local map joins its older history to the places and landscapes that still shape the town today, all within the wider Illinois setting. The local scoop is how Wilmington's history still shows up in the places people visit, work, learn, and meet. ' The Illini Confederation's territory extended from Iowa in the west to the Ohio River in the south, and approximately to the current borders with Indiana in the east and Wisconsin in the north.

Thomas Cox purchased land near Alden's Island in 1834 and built a sawmill, corn cracker, gristmill, and a carding machine facility all of which were powered by water wheels situated on a mill right off of the Kankakee River which runs through Wilmington. Wilmington is located on the banks of the Kankakee River, approximately 50 miles southwest of Chicago and 15 miles south of Joliet.