Decatur, Illinois: Our Hometown Through the Decades

Jen Bucheli

GROVELAND, FL, US

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This place is special to me because I was born and raised here. My Grandparents were born and raised here and built their house from digging the basement up! My Mom was born and raised here. I lived here until I moved away after college in 1997. This town still holds so many memories and amazing nostalgic places. It might not be a typical vacation destination or even mean much to anyone who wasn't born or lived here but it has a history that is quite amazing! It is located in the middle of Illinois between Springfield and Chicago, smack in the middle of soybean and cornfields. It is after all known as the Soybean Capital of the World. Decatur was known to be one of the stops on the Underground Railroad, was the first home to Abraham Lincoln, and was a top secret location that produced parts of the atomic bombs in the Manhattan Project during World War II. The restaurants, parks, lakes, and factories featured on my map brought Decatur residents together and made many wonderful memories. Many of these places are no longer existing but their memories live on in our hearts and minds and now on my map of Decatur, Illinois.