11 Best Downtowns In Illinois

The eleven downtowns below all reward a slow walk past brick buildings. Galena's Main Street is what was left when lead-mining money built it then ran out. Quincy still carries Lincoln's October 13, 1858 debate site as a public square. Woodstock has the brick-paved town square that doubled as Punxsutawney for the 1993 film "Groundhog Day." Sycamore wraps a 1905 Beaux-Arts courthouse, Edwardsville centers on a 1909 vaudeville theater that still books shows, and Galesburg sits on the Burlington railroad grid that produced Carl Sandburg. None of these are tourist destinations in the usual sense; they are working downtowns that happen to be old.

Galena

Galena's downtown runs along Main Street with most of the brick buildings dating from the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, when lead-mining money made the town one of the busiest ports on the upper Mississippi. The DeSoto House Hotel, opened in April 1855 and billed at the time as the largest hotel west of the Alleghenies, is the oldest operating hotel in Illinois. Lincoln spoke from its Main Street balcony in July 1856 in support of John Frémont's presidential bid, and rooms 209 and 211 served as Ulysses S. Grant's presidential campaign headquarters in 1868. The Dowling House on Diagonal Street, built in 1826, is the oldest surviving building in town and runs as a small house museum.

The Galena Center for the Arts on Gear Street rotates exhibits from local painters and sculptors. The Galena and U.S. Grant Museum sits in an 1858 Italianate mansion on Bench Street and opens with a hologram of Grant and his wife. Galena Canning Company has anchored Main Street with its artisanal sauces for more than two decades, and Root Beer Revelry pours handcrafted sodas a few doors down.

Elmhurst

Elmhurst sits on the western edge of the Chicago metro in DuPage County, and the downtown is built around the Elmhurst Art Museum and its on-site Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House from 1952, one of only three single-family homes Mies built in the United States. The Elmhurst History Museum, in the Glos Mansion on Park Avenue, runs exhibits on the town's railroad heritage and early settlement.

The York Theatre on York Street is a restored 1924 movie palace that still screens classic and independent films alongside first-run releases. Down the block, Primos Locos serves shrimp tacos and al pastor, and Kilwins runs a counter for handmade chocolates, fudge, and ice cream.

Batavia

Batavia calls itself the "Windmill Capital of the World" thanks to a run as a major windmill manufacturer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and several restored windmills line the riverfront and downtown today. The Batavia Fine Arts Centre on Wilson Street books touring theater and music, and the Fox River Trail runs straight through the center of town with biking and walking paths along the water.

Peg Bond Center, an outdoor space along the river, hosts farmers' markets and concerts through the warm months. The Batavia Boardwalk Shops on Wilson Street pack handmade goods, specialty foods, and local crafts into a row of small, brightly painted storefronts. Daddio's Diner, a retro counter on Wilson Street, draws regulars for breakfast and lunch.

Sycamore

The 1905 DeKalb County Courthouse, with its Beaux-Arts dome, sits at the center of Sycamore's downtown and has anchored the town since the same year. The Sycamore Pumpkin Festival, held every late October, takes over the streets with a parade, contests, food vendors, and the carved-pumpkin display that has put the town on regional festival circuits for decades.

Blumen Gardens, a 4.5-acre nursery and gift shop, runs at the south edge of downtown with display gardens, a café, and seasonal events. PJ's Courthouse Tavern on State Street works out of an 1871 building and books live music in a space that has been a bar in one form or another since the late 19th century.

Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon's downtown runs as the cultural anchor for a wide stretch of southern Illinois. The Cedarhurst Center for the Arts spreads across a 90-acre campus of galleries, sculpture park, and outdoor performance spaces a mile west of downtown. The Granada Theatre, a restored 1930s Art Deco movie house on Main Street, books concerts and film screenings, and the Jefferson County Historical Village holds a row of preserved 19th-century buildings, including a log cabin, a one-room schoolhouse, and the original 1838 Jefferson County jail.

Rare Chop House on the square does steak and seafood in a renovated brick building, and Ali Asian Cuisine fills its menu with crab rangoon, beef pad thai, and dragon sushi for a town this size.

Edwardsville

Edwardsville anchors southwestern Illinois with a downtown built around the 1915 Madison County Courthouse and the restored Wildey Theatre, a 1909 venue that books concerts, films, and live performances on North Main Street. On Buchanan Street, the 1820 Col. Benjamin Stephenson House runs as a Federal-style historic home with guided tours covering early Illinois territorial life.

The Madison County Transit Trails connect downtown to more than 130 miles of paved paths through the surrounding countryside, used by cyclists and walkers in equal measure. Peel Wood Fired Pizza turns out wood-oven pies and a long beer list. The Cup, a small bakery on North Buchanan, has built a regional following on its cupcakes.

Galesburg

Galesburg, the Knox County seat in western Illinois, was a major junction on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line, and the railroad shaped the town's downtown grid. The Galesburg Railroad Museum, a few steps from the Amtrak station, holds vintage locomotives and yard equipment from the steam era. The Orpheum Theatre, a renovated 1916 vaudeville house on South Kellogg Street, books concerts, plays, and classic film screenings on the same stage that hosted Ethel Barrymore and George Burns when it opened.

The Carl Sandburg State Historic Site, dedicated to the Pulitzer-winning poet and biographer of Abraham Lincoln, sits a few blocks from downtown and preserves the small three-room cottage where Sandburg was born in 1878, along with a reading garden and exhibit space. Seminary Street runs through the historic commercial district with brick paving, independent shops, and Innkeeper's Coffee, a longtime regional café.

Quincy

Quincy sits high above the Mississippi River on a series of bluffs at the western edge of the state. Washington Park, in the heart of downtown, hosted the sixth Lincoln-Douglas debate on October 13, 1858 in front of an estimated crowd of 12,000, and now runs as the town's main public square for markets and concerts. The District, Quincy's downtown commercial core, packs in restaurants, breweries, and small retailers. Tiramisu serves chicken parmigiana, rolli, and rigatoni mozzarella, and Quincy Brewing Company pours more than a dozen rotating taps in its taproom.

Villa Kathrine, a Moorish-style mansion built in 1900 on a bluff above the river at 12th Street, now serves as the city's visitor center with tours of its grounds and architecture. The John Wood Mansion, a Greek Revival home built for the founder of Quincy and the state's twelfth governor, stands a few blocks away, restored room by room.

Woodstock

Woodstock's downtown wraps around a brick-paved town square that doubled as Punxsutawney for the 1993 film "Groundhog Day," and the town leans into the connection every February with the Groundhog Days festival, which runs movie screenings, walking tours of filming locations, and a public showing of the film inside the Woodstock Opera House. The Opera House itself, built in 1889, anchors the square and still books plays, concerts, and exhibits in its second-floor auditorium.

Ethereal Confections, a bean-to-bar chocolate shop, sits on the square with handcrafted bars and a drinking-chocolate counter. The Woodstock Farmers Market brings dozens of regional sellers to the square twice a week through the warm months for produce, baked goods, and crafts.

Princeton

Princeton, the Bureau County seat, has held onto its 19th-century Main Street architecture and built up a working downtown around it. The Red Covered Bridge, completed in 1863, sits about a mile north of town and remains one of the most photographed structures in the county. In town, the Lovejoy Homestead, set in the 1838 house of abolitionist Owen Lovejoy, runs guided tours covering Princeton's role on the Underground Railroad.

Hoffman's Patterns of the Past on Main Street stocks vintage china, glassware, and dinnerware patterns for collectors, drawing buyers from across the Midwest. The Matson Public Library on the same stretch, a Carnegie-funded building from the early 20th century, runs as a working library and a regular venue for community workshops and lectures.

Carbondale

Carbondale runs as a college town built around Southern Illinois University, with a downtown that mixes student bars, music venues, and small galleries. The Varsity Center, a restored historic theater on Illinois Avenue, books live music, film, and theater. The University Museum at SIU, on the campus side, rotates exhibits across regional history, fine art, and anthropology.

The Green Earth Trails network, just outside downtown, runs several miles of walking paths through forest preserves and prairie. Carbondale also serves as the gateway to Shawnee National Forest, with hiking, rock climbing, and the high sandstone overlooks of the Garden of the Gods Recreation Area within an hour's drive.

Where Illinois Slows the Pace

Across these eleven downtowns, Illinois shows up as a state of working courthouse squares and restored small theaters, of riverfront blocks and rail-line storefronts. Galena freezes the lead-mining 1850s. Quincy still talks about a debate that ran for three hours in 1858. Woodstock holds a film tradition that started in 1993. None of them are big, and that is the point: each runs at the speed of a slow walk past brick buildings that were old by the time most of the country was still new.