Hickory Grove is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

Edge city An edge city is a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban, residential or rural area. The term was popularized by the 1991 boo ...

in Ellington Township, Adams County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is situated on the outskirts of the city of Quincy and is part of the Quincy, IL– MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. Hickory Grove is considered to be Quincy's second largest

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

after North Quincy.

Location

Hickory Grove extends little under a mile along Broadway from 60th Street to 70th Street. Other land belonging within Hickory Grove are spread out along

Interstate 172 Interstate 172 (I-172) is a spur route, the only auxiliary route of I-72. It is located entirely within the US state of Illinois and is completely concurrent with IL 110. The highway runs north from its start outside of Hannibal, Mis ...

. This includes the Columbus Road/Wisman Lane interchanges and the Rim Road

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on State Street.

Edge city status

Originally Hickory Grove was left untouched by the

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

of Quincy, but in the early 1990s

Illinois Route 336 Illinois Route 336 (IL 336, also known as the Thomas A. Oakley Memorial Highway) is a four-lane freeway/ expressway combination that serves western Illinois. It is also used by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) as a part of ...

was upgraded to

Interstate Highway standards Standards for Interstate Highways in the United States are defined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in the publication ''A Policy on Design Standards: Interstate System''. For a certain highway t ...

as Interstate 172. In 2004, construction began on the Prairie Crossing Shopping Complex (''now known as Prairie Trail'') which once completed more traffic would head towards their way. Quincy annexed Hickory Grove later that year.

Prairie Trail

Prairie Trail is a new shopping complex built as the first

commercial zone ''Commercial Zone'' is an album of studio recordings by Public Image Ltd, recorded in 1982 and 1983, and released in 1984 by PiL founding guitarist Keith Levene. ''Commercial Zone'' includes five songs that were later re-recorded for PiL's fo ...

of Quincy east of Interstate 172. 63rd street serves the lots eastern border, an exit ramp as the western border and

Illinois Route 104 Illinois Route 104 is a state highway in central and western Illinois. It extends from Illinois Route 29 near Taylorville, west over the Illinois River at Meredosia to its western terminus in downtown Quincy. This is a distance of . Route ...

(Broadway) as its northern border. Much of the complex opened in 2005. Initial

tenants A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a lea ...

included:

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...

Kohl's Kohl's Corporation (Kohl's is stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain store, chain. currently has 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawaii. The company was founded by Polish immigrant Maxwe ...

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

T.J. Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American discount department store chain. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in the country. TJ Maxx is the flagship chain of the TJX Co ...

MC Sports MC Sports was an American retail sporting goods chain. Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1946, the chain operated 75 stores in the Midwestern United States before permanently closing in 2017 after filing for bankruptcy. History MC Sports beg ...

, Great Clips salon,

Shoe Carnival Shoe Carnival Inc. is an American retailer of family footwear. The company operates 429 stores throughout the midwest, south, and southeast regions, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by David Russell in 1978 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indi ...

Buffalo Wild Wings Buffalo Wild Wings (originally Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, and nicknamed BW3, or BDubs or BWW) is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise specializing in chicken wings. As of March 2025, there are over 1,300 locations a ...

, and

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

Mill Creek Confusion

Sometimes Hickory Grove is referred to as the Mill Creek township, because ''Mill Creek'' travels through the city. This is also because "Mill Creek" is the name on the two

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

s in the town. However, a ''

Mill Creek, Illinois Mill Creek is a village in Union County, Illinois, United States. The population was 59 at the 2020 census. Geography The community is located on the west side of the Mill Creek floodplain just north of the Union-Alexander county line. Illinois ...

'' exists elsewhere in the state.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Adams County, Illinois Quincy, Illinois micropolitan area Quincy–Hannibal area Unincorporated communities in Illinois