Streator

History

Although settlements had occasionally existed in the area, they were not permanent. In 1824, surveyors for the Illinois and Michigan Canal which would extend from Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood to the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, arrived in this area of the Vermilion River, followed by homesteaders by the 1830s. In 1861, miner John O'Neill established a trading post called "Hardscrabble" (ironically an early name for the Bridgeport neighborhood), supposedly because he watched loaded animals struggle up the river's banks. Another name for the new settlement was "Unionville". Streator received its current name to honor Worthy S. Streator, an Ohio industrialist who financed the region's first coal mining operation. Streator received a town charter in 1868 and incorporated as a city in 1882. In 1882 Col. Ralph Plumb was elected as its first mayor. Streator's early growth was due to the coal mine, as well as a major glass manufacturer and its status as a Midwestern railroad hub. Today Streator's economy is led by heavy-equipment manufacturer Vactor and food distributor U.S. Foodservice. The city is the hometown of Clyde Tombaugh, who in 1930 discovered the dwarf planet Pluto, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt; and George "Honey Boy" Evans, who wrote "In the Good Old Summer Time." The city of Chicago served as the main impetus of growth in the area throughout the early 19th century alongside—of more importance to the region around Streator—the development of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1821. This canal connected Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River and greatly increasing shipping traffic in the region. Land speculation in areas lining the canal and rivers ensued and towns sprouted…

Geography

As of 2021, Streator has a total area of , of which (or 99.1%) is land and (or 0.9%) is water. Streator lies within the Vermilion River/Illinois River Basin Assessment Area (VRAA) defined by the watershed of the Vermilion River, a major tributary to the Illinois River in Central Illinois, an area of mostly flat prairie. The topography of the basin is a complex collection of buried valleys, lowlands and uplands carved by repeated episodes of continental glaciation. Underneath the topsoil, the region's bedrock contains vast amounts of coal. About 68% of Illinois has coal-bearing strata of the Pennsylvanian geologic period. According to the Illinois State Geological Survey, 211 billion tons of bituminous coal are estimated to lie under the surface, having a total heating value greater than the estimated oil deposits in the Arabian Peninsula. However, this coal has a high sulfur content, which causes acid rain. Streator's coal mining history closely parallels Illinois', with a great push in coal production from 1866 until the 1920s, when many of the mines closed. The low-sulfur coal of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and the growing demands for oil caused a decline in demand for Streator's high-sulfur coal. The St. Peter Sandstone is an Ordovician formation in the Chazyan stage of the Champlainian series. This layer runs east–west from Illinois to South Dakota. The stone consists of 99.44% quartz or silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is used for the manufacture of glass. Its purity is especially important to glassmakers. Streator, which lies within outcrop area of the St. Peter sandstone formation, has mined this mineral since the late 19th century for use in its glass manufacturing industries. The highest temperature recorded in Streator was in July 1936. The lowest…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  444
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  363
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  356
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  353
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  308
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  292
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  287
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  272

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2025-03-15
  6 km W of Dwight, Illinois
• M 3.1 — 2024-07-15
  2 km WNW of Somonauk, Illinois
• M 3.6 — 2023-11-15
  1 km SSW of Standard, Illinois
• M 2.6 — 2013-06-10
  4 km NNE of Virgil, Illinois
• M 3.8 — 2010-02-10
  2 km NW of Lily Lake, Illinois
• M 4.2 — 2004-06-28
  12 km NW of Dayton, Illinois