The Ronald Reagan Trail is a collection of highways in central Illinois that connect villages and cities that were of importance to former United States President Ronald Reagan. [1] The trail was established on May 21 1999 by the Illinois General Assembly, five years prior to former President Reagan's death in June 2004. [2] [3] [4] The trail was dedicated in a ceremony on August 25, 2000 [5] [6] with a motorcade marking the first trip. [7] [8] The Reagan Trail was the brainchild of the late mayor of Eureka, Illinois Joe Serangeli. [9] A volunteer-run Reagan Trail Association maintained a web presence and promoted the trail for its initial years, but the board was dissolved in July 2016 and website transferred to the care of the Ronald W. Reagan Society of Eureka College.
The trail is over 100 mi (160 km) and takes approximately 2 hours by car. [10] [11] It is marked by brown-and white signs with Reagan's profile. [8] [12] [3] The trail takes on the general shape of a triangle, and can be summarized into the following segments:
The southwest segment of the trail follows U.S. Route 34 from Monmouth, Illinois to Interstate 74 east to Galesburg, Illinois. It then follows I-74 east to Peoria, Illinois, and U.S. Route 24 east to Washington, Illinois and Eureka, Illinois. This segment has the following attractions:
The east segment of the trail starts at U.S. Route 24 in Peoria and follows Illinois Route 29 north to Bureau Junction, Illinois. It then follows Illinois Route 26 to Ohio, Illinois where it branches to Tampico, Illinois on Illinois Route 92 and Dixon, Illinois on Illinois 26. This segment has the following attractions:
U.S. Route 34 merely connects Galesburg to Princeton to complete the trail. [19]
Peoria County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. The 2020 United States Census listed its population at 181,830. Its county seat is Peoria. Peoria County is part of the Peoria metropolitan area.
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Knox and Warren counties.
Dixon is a city and the county seat of Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,274 as of the 2020 census. The city is named after founder John Dixon, who operated a rope ferry service across the Rock River, which runs through the city. The Illinois General Assembly designated Dixon as "Petunia Capital of Illinois" in 1999 and "The Catfish Capital of Illinois" in 2009.
Chillicothe is a city on the Illinois River in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. Chillicothe is just north of the city of Peoria and is part of the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Peoria is a city in and county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in Illinois. It is the principal city of the Peoria metropolitan area in Central Illinois, consisting of the counties of Fulton, Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell, and Woodford which had a population of 402,391 in 2020.
Monmouth is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,902 at the 2020 census, down from 9,444 in 2010. It is the home of Monmouth College and contains Monmouth Park, Harmon Park, North Park, Warfield Park, West Park, South Park, Garwood Park, Buster White Park and the Citizens Lake & Campground. It is the host of the Prime Beef festival, held annually the week after Labor Day. The festival is kicked off with one of the largest parades in Western Illinois. Monmouth is also known regionally as the "Maple City". It is part of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Eureka is a city and the county seat of Woodford County, Illinois. The population was 5,295 at the 2010 census. Eureka is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Eureka College is a private college in Eureka, Illinois, that is related by covenant to the Christian Church. Enrollment in 2022 was approximately 559 students.
Forgottonia, also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois that is roughly equivalent to "The Tract", the Illinois portion of the Military Tract of 1812, along and west of the Fourth Principal Meridian. Since this wedge-shaped region lies between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, it has historically been isolated from the eastern portion of Central Illinois.
The Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home is the house located at 816 S. Hennepin Ave., Dixon, Illinois, in which the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan lived as a youth beginning in 1920. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The home is open to visitors from April to October.
Area codes 309 and 861 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the west-central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. The numbering plan area includes cities such as Bloomington, Canton, East Moline, East Peoria, Galesburg, Geneseo, Kewanee, Macomb, Minonk, Moline, Morton, Normal, Pekin, Peoria, Rock Island, Silvis, and many smaller communities in west-central Illinois. Area code 309 was created in 1957 in an split of area code 815. 861 was added to the numbering plan area on February 24, 2023, in formation of an overlay.
Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the Heart of Illinois, it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agriculture, particularly corn and soybeans, as well as educational institutions and manufacturing centers, figure prominently.
The Birthplace of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Graham Building, is located in an apartment on the second floor of a late 19th-century commercial building in Tampico, Illinois, United States. The building was built in 1896, and housed a tavern from that time until 1915. On February 6, 1911, the future 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, was born in the apartment there. The Reagan family moved into a house in Tampico a few months later.
The H.C. Pitney Variety Store Building is a commercial building in downtown Tampico, Illinois, United States, constructed in 1900. The building is part of a two-story commercial block along Main Street.
The Main Street Historic District in Tampico, Illinois, United States, is a historic district notable as home to the birthplace of Ronald Reagan. The district includes the late 19th century collection of buildings that comprise Tampico's central business district; among them are two apartments that the Reagan family occupied in the early 1900s. The buildings in the district went through several periods of rebuilding during the 1870s due to major fires and a tornado. The district boundaries encompass the 100 block of Main Street and exclude properties that do not date from the historic period.
Nelle Clyde Wilson Reagan was the mother of 40th United States President Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) and his older brother Neil Reagan (1908–1996).
Spider Hill is an annual haunted event held at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois to celebrate Halloween. The attractions include a trail, haunted house, and a haunted hayride. It is touted by the organizers as the number one haunted attraction in Central Illinois.
The Chillicothe Subdivision or "Chillicothe Sub" is a railway line running about 229 miles (369 km) from Chicago, Illinois to Fort Madison, Iowa in the United States of America. It is operated by BNSF Railway as part of their Southern Transcon route from Chicago to Los Angeles. The Chillicothe Subdivision is a high volume route connecting three principal yards in Chicago in the east and the Marceline Subdivision in the west which continues to Kansas City.
The 1931 Eureka Red Devils football team was an American football team that represented Eureka College in the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1931 college football season. In its 11th season under head coach Ralph McKinzie, the team compiled a 3–4–1 record, 2–4–1 against conference opponents.