Macomb is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of McDonough County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States. It is situated in western Illinois, southwest of Galesburg. The city is about southwest of Peoria and south of the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

. A special census held in 2014 placed the city's population at 21,516. Macomb is the home of

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

History

Origin

First settled in 1829 on a site tentatively named Washington, the town was officially founded in 1830 as the

of McDonough County and given the name Macomb after General Alexander Macomb, a general in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. War veterans were given land grants in the Macomb area, which was part of the "Military Tract" set aside by Congress. In 1855 the Northern Cross Railroad, a predecessor to the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

, was constructed through Macomb, leading to a rise in the town's population. In 1899 the Western Illinois State Normal School, later

, was founded in Macomb. Representative Lawrence Sherman was instrumental in locating the school in Macomb. In 1903 the Macomb and Western Illinois Railway was built from Macomb to nearby

Industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

and Littleton by local financier Charles V. Chandler, though this railroad was abandoned in 1930. In 1918, construction on

Illinois Route 3 Illinois Route 3 (IL 3) is a major north–south arterial state highway in southwestern Illinois. It has its southern terminus at Cairo Junction (about north of Cairo) at the intersection of U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and Illinois Ro ...

was begun as a state financed highway from

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

to Rock Island through Macomb; in the late 1920s

U.S. Route 67 U.S. Route 67 is a major north–south U.S. highway which extends for 1,560 miles (2,511 km) in the Central United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the United States-Mexico border in Presidio, Texas, where it continues so ...

was extended along this route to

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Il ...

Presidential visits

Macomb has been visited by several

US Presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government a ...

over the years.

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

have all made short addresses in Macomb. On two occasions,

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

addressed large audiences prior to their election as president. Obama was actually stumping for the U.S. Senate at the time, meaning a president or presidential nominee has not visited Macomb in 109 years and counting.

St. Louis Rams summer camp

The WIU campus and its Hanson Field Stadium were home to the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

summer training camp from 1996 to 2004. In 2005, the Rams decided to move summer training to their own facilities in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, ending the nine-year relationship.

Minor league baseball

Macomb was home to the Macomb Potters, who played as members of the Class D level Illinois-Missouri League in 1909 and 1910. The team also hosted two exhibition games against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. The Potters began play after local fans raised funds to start the team. On Friday, June 18, 1909, the Macomb Potters hosted an exhibition game against the defending World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. The game was scheduled with the agreement that the Cubs would feature their regular lineup. The selected date allowed the Cubs to play in between the Cubs' series with the

Brooklyn Superbas The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

. The game was advertised as “the greatest day in the baseball history of McDonough County,” in a large advertisement placed in the June 17, 1909 Macomb Daily Journal. The teams took infield at 2:30 p.m., with the game starting at 3:00 p.m. In front of 2,964 fans, the Cubs beat the Potters 6–0. Admission was $1.00 per ticket. After the game, each team split the gate money minus expenses and each club received $971.50. During the 1910 season, the Macomb Potters and the Chicago Cubs played a second exhibition game in Macomb. The 1910 game was won by the Cubs 5–0.

Geography

Macomb is located at (40.460501, -90.674048). The East Fork

Lamoine River La Moine River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in western Illinois in the United States. Its watershed covers approxima ...

flows past the northern part of the city. According to the 2010 census, Macomb has a total area of , of which (or 96.12%) is land and (or 3.88%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 18,558 people, 6,575 households, and 2,952 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,037 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 88.73%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 5.93%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 3.06%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 0.69% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 1.40% from two or more races. 2.10% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 6,575 households, out of which 19.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 55.1% were non-families. 38.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.77. In the city, the population was spread out, with 12.6% under the age of 18, 42.9% from 18 to 24, 18.2% from 25 to 44, 14.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,994, and the median income for a family was $42,069. Males had a median income of $27,663 versus $21,780 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $13,470. 29.1% of the population and 12.2% of families were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

. 22.8% of those under the age of 18 and 8.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Filmings in Macomb

*''Cast in Gray'' (2005) *'' Wife Swap'' (2006)

Manufacturing

* NTN-Bower Corporation * Pella Windows * Whalen Manufacturing

Transportation

Macomb (Amtrak station) Macomb station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Macomb, Illinois, United States. There is one daily morning train to Chicago. In the evening, the return train continues on to Quincy, Illinois, Quincy, Illinois Illinois ( ) is a st ...

Go West Transit Go West Transit is the primary provider of mass transportation in McDonough County, Illinois with routes serving Western Illinois University and the Macomb area. The system runs 17 routes with over 100 stops and is the only fare-free transit sys ...

* Go West Transit Live Bus Tracking

Outdoor recreation

Argyle Lake State Park Argyle Lake State Park is an List of Illinois state parks, Illinois state park located in Colchester, Illinois. The park is home to the Argyle Lake and of hiking trails and wooded campsites. The land for the state park was purchased by the s ...

(located in nearby

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

)
Harry Mussatto Golf Course
* Lakeview Nature Center * Macomb Park District * Spring Lake Park

Higher education

Spoon River College Spoon River College (SRC) is a public community college in Canton, Illinois. It is part of the Illinois Community College System. Spoon River College's district comprises parts of Schuyler County, McDonough County, Mason County, and Knox Coun ...

, Macomb campus

Newspapers

* ''

The McDonough County Voice ''The McDonough County Voice'' is a daily newspaper published in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It is owned by Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C ...

'', daily newspaper
Western Courier

Notable people

William Birenbaum William Marvin Birenbaum (July 18, 1923 – October 4, 2010) was an American educator and college administrator who served in leadership positions at the New School for Social Research, Long Island University and at Staten Island Community Co ...

(1923–2010), college administrator *

Michael Boatman Michael Patrick Boatman (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as New York City mayoral aide Carter Heywood in the ABC sitcom ''Spin City'', as U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Beckett in the ABC drama s ...

, actor, attended Western Illinois University * Phil Bradley, Major League Baseball player (1983–1990) *

Helen Tunnicliff Catterall Helen Tunnicliff Catterall (March 3, 1870 – November 10, 1933) was an American lawyer, writer, and historian, based in Chicago. She is best known for her five-volume ''Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery and the Negro'', published betwe ...

(1870–1933), lawyer, writer * Charles Clarke Chapman (1853–1944) businessman; first mayor of Fullerton, California; founder of

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scie ...

Bryan Cox Bryan Keith Cox Sr. (born February 17, 1968) is an American football coach and former player. He is the assistant defensive line coach for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Western Illino ...

, football player and coach, attended Western Illinois University *

Marcus Dunstan Marcus Dunstan is an American screenwriter and director who, along with Patrick Melton, wrote screenplay for the film ''Feast'', which was the winner of Season Three of the filmmaking competition reality TV series '' Project Greenlight''. Dunstan ...

, screenwriter and director *

Harry Gamage Harry G. Gamage (February 3, 1900 – August 22, 1994) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach the University of Kentucky from 1927 to 1933 and at the University of South Dakota from 1934 to 1941 and again f ...

, University of Kentucky football head coach 1927-33 *

Joe Garner Joseph Alan Garner (born 12 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Fleetwood Town of EFL League One. Garner started his career with Blackburn Rovers before joining Carlisle United. Garner had a three- ...

, six-time ''New York Times'' Bestselling author of non-fiction pop culture history *

Elizabeth Magie Elizabeth J. Magie Phillips (''née'' Magie; May 9, 1866 – March 2, 1948) was an American game designer, writer, feminist, and Georgist. She invented '' The Landlord's Game'', the precursor to ''Monopoly'', to illustrate teachings of the progre ...

, inventor of ''

The Landlord's Game ''The Landlord's Game'' is a board game patented in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie as . It is a realty and taxation game intended to educate users about Georgism. It is the inspiration for the 1935 board game ''Monopoly''. History In 1902 to 1903, ...

'', precursor to ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

'' *

John Mahoney Charles John Mahoney (June 20, 1940 – February 4, 2018) was an English-born American actor. He was known for playing Martin Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Frasier'' (1993–2004), and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role in 2000. Mahone ...

(1940–2018), actor. Alumnus of Western Illinois University * Ty Margenthaler, assistant coach with

Wisconsin Badgers women's basketball The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference. Home games are played at the Kohl Center, located on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus in Madison, Wiscon ...

team * Kenneth G. McMillan, Illinois State Senator and educator *

Red Miller Robert "Red" Miller (October 31, 1927 – September 27, 2017) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1977 to 1980. In his first year as Denver's head coach, h ...

, former head coach of NFL

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

and USFL

Denver Gold The Denver Gold was a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second major professional football league in the United States, playing a springtime season, from 1983 to 1985. The Gold played their home games at Mi ...

Darrell Mudra Darrell E. Mudra Sr. (January 4, 1929 – September 21, 2022), nicknamed "Dr. Victory", was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Adams State College (1959–1962), North Dakota State University (1963–1965), th ...

(1929-2022),

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

and college football coach and member of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. Head football coach of Western Illinois University from 1969-73. * Michael Norman, author of the "Haunted" book series * Donald C. Pogue, judge *

Todd Purdum Todd Stanley Purdum (born December 13, 1959) is an American journalist who works as a national editor and political correspondent for ''Vanity Fair''. Early life and education Purdum is a son of Jerry S. Purdum, a Macomb, Illinois insurance brok ...

, correspondent, editor, '' Vanity Fair'', ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' *

Lou Saban Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 a ...

(1921-2009),

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and college football player and coach. Head football coach of Western Illinois University from 1957-59. *

Al Sears Albert Omega Sears (February 21, 1910 – March 23, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader, sometimes credited as Big Al Sears. Sears was born in Macomb, Illinois, United States. His first major gig came in 1928 when he r ...

, jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader * Stabbing Westward, Rock Band *

Damon G. Tunnicliff Damon George Tunnicliff (August 20, 1829 – December 20, 1901) was an American jurist. He briefly served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois, Illinois Supreme Court in 1885. Biography Damon G. Tunnicliff was born in Herkimer Count ...

, Illinois Supreme Court justice; practiced law in Macomb.' The Green Bag.' 1891, volume III, edited by Horace W. Fuller, Boston Book Company: 1891, pg. 236 *

Ruth May Tunnicliff Ruth May Tunnicliff (May 1, 1876 – September 22, 1946) was an American physician, medical researcher, bacteriologist, and pathologist, based in Chicago. She developed a serum against measles, and did laboratory research for the United States A ...

(1876–1946), medical researcher * Sarah Bacon Tunnicliff (1872–1957), clubwoman and reformer in Chicago *

Howard Turner Howard Hunter Turner (May 4, 1897 – November 17, 1976) was an American football back who played one season with the Milwaukee Badgers of the National Football League. He played college football at Lombard College. The Jim Turner listed on othe ...

, football player * Rev. C.T. Vivian (1924-2020), minister and civil rights leader * Dr. Henry Wells, author, professor and expert on Latin America politics

References

External links

City of Macomb
(official site) {{authority control Cities in Illinois Cities in McDonough County, Illinois Micropolitan areas of Illinois County seats in Illinois Populated places established in 1830 1830 establishments in Illinois