8 Most Beautiful College Towns In Illinois

Illinois packs a surprising number of real college towns into one state. The prettiest of them wear it on their architecture. Walk onto these campuses and you hit a castle. Augustana and Knox and Eastern Illinois all raised a turreted Old Main back in the 1800s and kept it standing. The towns grew up around those halls. Spend an afternoon on any of these quads and the museums and old homes and downtown theaters sit a short walk away.

Rock Island

Rock Island sits on the Mississippi River and is home to the liberal arts Augustana College. Listed on the National Register, Augustana's Old Main was constructed from 1884 to 1893. Its exterior was restored in 2011, and a $13 million interior renovation was completed in 2012. The distinguishing dome was even replaced with a copper dome. It's a sight to see on the way across the quad to the Fryxell Geology Museum. The museum is open to the public during the academic year and features a collection dating back to the 1880s, including rocks, minerals, and fossils. The collection now exhibits a wall of glowing fluorescent rocks and a 22-foot-long Cryolophosaurus skeleton.

In southern Rock Island, on the Rock River, the Black Hawk State Historic Site features the John Hauberg Museum, the Singing Bird Nature Center, miles of moderate hiking trails, and picnic areas for enjoying the great outdoors. Rock Island shares its historic architecture and natural attractions with visitors.

Galesburg

In Galesburg, on Main Street in the Galesburg Historic District, the Galesburg Community Arts Center hosts around 40 free art exhibitions each year. The center also maintains an active event calendar featuring both free and fee-based activities. The National Register lists the liberal arts Knox College Old Main building, which was built in 1857 with the Academic Gothic structure.

Just across the railroad tracks from campus, the National Register also lists the Carl Sandburg State Historic Site. The birthplace of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Lincoln biographer features a "workingman's cottage" parlor, bedroom, and kitchen with family items and utilitarian furnishings on display.

DeKalb

Home to Northern Illinois University, DeKalb also promotes the arts and history. The Northern Illinois University Art Museum invites students and visitors to contemplate visual art. During the academic calendar, the museum hosts two concurrent exhibitions.

Across the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River, the Ellwood House Museum, built in 1879 in the Victorian Gothic style, opens its doors to seven sites, including the mansion, house, visitor center, multi-car garage, and four gardens. In 1963, a Northern Illinois professor saved the mansion for posterity. Now the museum also hosts free music concerts on the front lawn in the summer. Built in 1929 and restored in 1983, DeKalb's historic Egyptian Theatre downtown also maintains an active live performance calendar featuring theater, music, comedy, and classic films.

Jacksonville

Home to historic sites in Western Illinois, Jacksonville offers many attractions for visitors. Operating out of the old post office building downtown, the Jacksonville Area Museum preserves and shares the town's history. Exhibits highlight Abraham Lincoln, area institutions, the MacMurray College collection, the 1970s in Jacksonville, and other rotating topics. Listed on the National Register, the Governor Duncan Mansion welcomes guests to tour the historic home on the west end of town. Built in 1833, the Georgian-style house served as Joseph Duncan's unofficial governor's mansion. As a trustee of Illinois College, he also donated $10,000 in land to the liberal arts college.

Southeast of the Illinois College campus in Community Park, the Big Eli Ferris Wheel takes the community for a spin on Sunday evenings during the summer and autumn months. W.E. Sullivan debuted the first portable Ferris wheel, the original "Big Eli," in Jacksonville in 1900. His Eli Bridge Company moved to its Jacksonville factory in 1919 and still builds wheels there today. Preserving historic items and structures enhances the appeal of this Illinois college town.

Charleston

In Charleston, the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum memorializes the site of the fourth debate. There's a self-guided tour through exhibits and interactive displays, including films, audio selections, artifacts, and photos. The Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University showcases rotating exhibitions of undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and alumni art during the academic year. The arts center welcomes students and visitors to interpret the world through art and engage with scholarship during gallery hours.

The university also maintains its historic academic buildings. Listed on the National Register, the Old Main and Pemberton Hall buildings were built in the Gothic style at the beginning of the 20th century. Old Main retains the turrets, battlements, and towers of a castle with clustered windows and pointed arches, while Pemberton Hall boasts the oldest female residence hall in the state. Charleston's eye-catching architecture tells a historic story.

Wheaton

In Northeastern Illinois, Wheaton College maintains its version of the Old Main building. Listed on the National Register, Blanchard Hall supports castle-like architecture built in 1927 with locally quarried limestone. Not far from campus, also listed on the National Register, the DuPage County Historical Museum occupies the old Adams Memorial Library structure. Designed by Charles Sumner Frost in 1891, the limestone Richardsonian Romanesque building now houses artifacts unique to DuPage County and is best known for its sizable model train display.

In 1910, the Cobb and Frost railroad station was relocated. Now it serves as an administrative building at Cosley Zoo. In 1975, a retired Burlington railroad caboose was also brought to join the train station. The zoo now boasts 200 animals, including white-tailed deer, red fox, Blanding's turtles, a coyote, and more. Take a self-guided architectural tour from Wheaton College through the downtown area to the zoo and enjoy the sights along the way.

Macomb

Macomb preserves their history for future generations. Listed on the National Register, the Western Illinois State Normal School Building, also referred to as Sherman Hall, now serves as the school's administrative building. In 1900, Macomb broke ground on the historic structure. You can visit the Western Illinois Museum to appreciate a selection of the university's historic objects. The museum stewards the region's rural America collection in a repurposed garage one block south of the town's historic town square.

With a statue of two stacked dice and an interactive game in the downtown Courthouse Square referred to lovingly as Macombopoly, the town pays tribute to its very own Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie-Phillips, who invented The Landlord's Game. Through its unique museums and attractions, Macomb invites locals and visitors to engage with a piece of history.

Edwardsville

Home to Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville maintains its historical and natural beauty. Listed on the National Register, the 1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House provides a glimpse into Edwardsville upper class life. Sold to the Sigma Phi Epsilon (Fraternity) Household Corporation in 1982, the house was acquired by the City of Edwardsville in 1999 and restored to its authentic form, including period furniture. The four-room Federal-style home bustles with activity, and visitors witness trained docents in period dress baking bread in the beehive oven, working leather, playing period games, or discussing territorial politics in the parlor.

Originally built downtown as an opera house in 1909, the Wildey Theatre underwent renovations in 2011 and now hosts live performances, events, and movies. The theater maintains an active Thursday-through-Sunday calendar. Dotted with shade trees and benches, City Park downtown brings the community and visitors together for Arts in the Park, the Edwardsville Route 66 Festival, the summer Concerts in the Park series, and more. Edwardsville shares its history and natural attractions with visitors.

Worth the Stop

These eight beautiful Illinois college towns bring students, the community, and visitors together to appreciate historic architecture, local artifacts preserved in museums, live performances, and community events. Take a step back in time in one of these eight towns' museums. Illinois is flush with local history.