Decatur, Illinois

Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500, and 76,122 in 2010. Decatur is the sixth-most populous city in Illinois, outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. According to Sperling's Best Places, Decatur's metropolitan area population is 114,749.

Decatur is a classic Midwest USA small city situated with homes and park areas facing Lake Decatur, and with many historic brick buildings downtown. This city is home of private Millikin University and public Richland Community College. Decatur is a college town with treelined streets and vast industrial and agricultural processing production and is located in the Interior Plains of North America.

In the transition from a manufacturing to a service economy, Decatur has experienced some population sprawl as new development activity grows to the outer Decatur metro area, seemingly blurring the detectable boundaries of contiguous city limits of neighboring communities Mount Zion, Harristown, and Forsyth.

Decatur and Macon County's most notable resident was Abraham Lincoln, who settled with his family west of town in 1830. He later practiced law in the city after moving to nearby Springfield.

Geography
Decatur is located at 39.85167°N, -88.94417°W (39.851636, -88.944228). Decatur is 3 hours SW of Chicago, and 2 hours NE of St. Louis by car.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 45.9 square miles (118.8 km²), of which, 41.6 square miles (107.6 km²) of it is land and 4.3 square miles (11.2 km²) of it (9.42%) is water. Lakes include Lake Decatur, formed in 1923 by the damming of the Sangamon River.

The Decatur, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area (population 109,900) includes surrounding towns of Argenta, Bement, Bethany, Boody, Blue Mound, Cerro Gordo, Clinton, Dalton City, Elwin, Findlay, Forsyth, Harristown, Illiopolis, Kirksville, La Place, Long Creek, Macon, Maroa, Monticello, Moweaqua, Mount Auburn, Mount Zion, Niantic, Oakley, Oreana, Stonington, Sullivan, and Warrensburg.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 81,860 people, 34,086 households, and 21,099 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,969.7 people per square mile (760.5/km²). There were 37,239 housing units at an average density of 896.0 per square mile (346.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 77.59% White, 19.47% African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.66% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 1.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.19% of the population.

There were 34,086 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 11.1% from ages 18 to 24, 26.0% from ages 25 to 44, 22.5% from ages 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 87.9 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 83.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,111, and the median income for a family was $42,379. Males had a median income of $36,920 versus $22,359 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,009. About 12.1% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.1% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.

Civics


The city's motto is "Decatur, We Like it Here". The old motto was "The Pride of the Prairie". "The Soybean Capital of the World" is the un-official, but popular motto.

Decatur was awarded the All-America City Award in 1960.

The city's symbol is the Transfer House, an early-twentieth-century Victorian structure located originally in the center of town where the city's mass transit lines met. The Transfer House was moved in 1963 to save it from possible destruction as increasing automobile traffic flowed through the highway routed through downtown.

Decatur is a sister city to Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan and to Seevetal, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Government
According to the city website, the "City of Decatur operates under the Council-Manager form of government, a system which combines the leadership of a representative, elected council with the professional background of an appointed manager."

The current mayor of Decatur is Mike McElroy, a former councilman and local business executive. McElroy was originally elected in April 2009 to finish the term of former mayor Paul Osborne. McElroy defeated Stephen Daniels in that election. He works for a liquor distribution company and therefore defers the responsibility of liquor commissioner normally held by the mayor. In April 2011, McElroy ran unopposed for a full term as mayor.

Ryan P. McRady has served as city manager of Decatur since October 2008.

2008 Government Transitions

Decatur faced a tumultuous year in 2008. City Manager Steve Garman announced in January that he would leave the job at the end of his contract in October, 2008. That announcement came two weeks before a special election to consider changing the form of city government and eliminate the city manager position. Garman acknowledged the challenging nature of his job in his resignation letter.

The February 2008 special election was held at the instigation of a group called ChangeDecatur, which wanted to create a strong mayor/alderman system and eliminate the city manager position. Under Illinois law, such a change was not allowed at the time of the election so the group instead endorsed a switch to the city commissioner format as a transition to its favored system. Voters chose to retain the current council-manager format by a 59% margin. In the aftermath, Mayor Paul Osborne said that some of the issues raised during the election could be addressed by creating geographical council districts.

After nine years of service, City Manager Steve Garman resigned May 2, 2008, six months before his contract expired. The City Council appointed assistant city manager John A. Smith to fulfill Garman's responsibilities during the search for a replacement.

Then Mayor Paul Osborne resigned June 1, 2008 after over five years of service. Osborne cited health issues as well as the increasing conflicts between his job as mayor and his role as editor of the Decatur Tribune.

Councilman Michael T. Carrigan served for nearly a year as Mayor after being selected by the City Council in June 2008. Carrigan was in his fourth term as a council member when he was selected. Carrigan brought to the job of mayor his seniority, his connections and his clout as president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. Following elections in April 2009, Carrigan and three departing city council members were honored for their years of service.

Mayors
Ellis B. Arnold was first elected to City Council for a 2-year term in May, 1959. In 1961, he was re-elected to a 4-year term as a City Councilman but resigned in 1963 when he was elected Mayor (May 1, 1963 to April 30, 1967). Although he ran again in 1967 for Mayor, he later withdrew from the race due to health reasons.
 * Charles M. Borchers (1909–1911; 1919–1923)
 * Elmer R. Elder (1925)
 * Harry E. Barber (1935)
 * Kaleb R. Lee
 * James A. Hedrick (1945)
 * Robert E. Willis (1953)
 * J. Clayton Povler (1954)
 * Robert A. Grohne (1959–1963)
 * Ellis B. Arnold (May 1, 1963 to April 30, 1967)
 * James H Rupp (1966–1976)
 * Gary Anderson
 * Erik Brechnitz
 * Terry M. Howley (1995–2003)
 * Paul Osborne (2003–2008) (resigned)
 * Mike Carrigan (2008–2009)
 * Mike McElroy (2009–present)

Mike Carrigan, previously an elected Decatur City Councilman and Mayor-Pro Tem, became new Decatur IL Mayor by City Council appointment 2008-06-01 after the previous Mayor Osborne resigned. Carrigan served for a year, declining to run in the election to fill the remaining 2 years of a four-year term.

Decatur Municipal Band
The Muni band was organized Sept. 19, 1857, making it one of the oldest nonmilitary bands in continuous service in the United States and Canada. It was originally known as the Decatur Brass Band, Decatur Comet Band and the Decatur Silver Band until 1871 when it was reorganized by Andrew Goodman and became the Goodman Band. In 1942 it was officially designated as the Decatur Municipal Band.

Quality of life
Sperling's Best Places says the city of Decatur, Illinois, on a scale of 1 to 10, has a property crime rate of 7 and a violent crime rate of 6, both of which are above the national average of 3 and is very close to the ratings given to Chicago (both 7). The metro area, however, has a violent crime rating of 2 and a property crime rating of 3.

Sperling's Best Places also reports 200 average days of sunshine for the Decatur metro area, which is near the national average of 205

Library
The Decatur Public Library was originally built with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, this original library was built in 1902 and opened to the public in 1903. The building served the community until 1970 when the library was moved to a new building downtown on North Street. In 1999 the library moved to its present location, the former Sears building, on Franklin Street. The library is part of the Rolling Prairie Library System.

Sports
Decatur was the original home of the Chicago Bears, from 1919 to 1920. The football team was then known as the Decatur Staleys and played at Staley Field, both named after the local food-products manufacturer.

From 1900 to 1974 Decatur was the home of The Commodores, a minor-league baseball team playing at Fans Field.

The USTA/Ursula Beck Pro Tennis Classic has been held annually since 1999. Male players from over 20 countries compete for $10,000 in prize money as well as ATP world ranking points at the Fairview Park Tennis Complex. The tournament is held for ten consecutive days at Fairview Park concluding on the first weekend in August.

Starting in 2007, Decatur has hosted the Rodney T. Miller Lakeside Triathlon. This sprint-distance triathlon presently is scheduled on the first weekend each July.

In 2009 Prairie Land Competitive baseball was formed and looking for baseball players to join a new league fit for all skill levels 18 years or older and will compete with local teams and against teams from cities such as Champaign Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield, Lincoln, Monticello, Clinton, Pana, and Mattoon-Charleston. https://sites.google.com/site/prairielandcompetitivebaseball/

Professional Golf
Decatur hosts the annual LPGA Futures Tour Tate & Lyle Players Championship, the tours major championship. The tournament is traditionally held in June.

http://www.LPGAFuturestour.com https://www.tateandlyleplayerschampionship.com/

High School basketball
The Decatur High School [later Stephen Decatur H. S.] "Reds"/"Runnin' Reds" won the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Basketball Championship in 1931, 1936, 1945, and 1962. In addition, they were 2nd in 1937; 3rd in 1964; and 4th in 1912, 1951, 1960, and 1966. For many years they held the overall record for appearances in the "Sweet 16" and the "Elite 8." They were consistently one of the premier high school basketball teams in America. Legendary coach Galen Kintner was at the helm for the first three titles.

Softball
The following Decatur men's fast pitch softball teams have won national championships:

ADM

 * 1981 Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Champions
 * 1984 International Softball Congress (ISC) Champions

Decatur Pride

 * 1994 Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Champions
 * 1999 Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Champions
 * 1999 Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Champions
 * 2000 International Softball Congress (ISC) Champions

Newspapers

 * Herald & Review– Daily
 * Decatur Tribune- Weekly
 * The Voice &mdash; Weekly
 * The Decaturian &mdash; Bi-weekly, published by Millikin University

Magazines

 * Decatur Magazine &mdash; Bi-monthly

Television

 * 17 WAND, NBC

AM radio

 * WDZ &mdash; 1050 AM – ESPN Radio
 * WSOY - 1340 AM – News/Talk
 * DCR 1650 - 1650 AM &mdash; Community

FM radio

 * WCZQ- 105.5 FM – Hip Hop & R&B
 * WJMU – 89.5 FM – Millikin University &mdash; Alternative
 * WDCR - 88.9 FM - Catholic Talk
 * WYDS– 93.1 FM – Top-40
 * WDZQ– 95.1 FM – Country
 * WXFM &mdash; 99.3 &mdash; Hot AC
 * WZUS- 100.9 FM &mdash; Talk
 * WSOY - 102.9 FM – Top-40
 * WEJT– 105.1 FM – Classic Hits
 * WZNX- 106.7 FM &mdash; Classic Rock
 * WDKR &mdash; 107.3 &mdash; Oldies

Economy
Decatur has production facilities for Caterpillar, Archer Daniels Midland, Mueller Co., and Tate & Lyle (previously A. E. Staley). The corporate world headquarters for Archer Daniels Midland, the leading agricultural processor and ethanol producer is in Decatur. Other large employers include Millikin University and the Norfolk Southern Railway.

A large former Firestone factory is currently being used as storage space for Caterpillar Inc.. From 1917-1922 Decatur was the location of the Comet Automobile Co., and the Pan-American Motor Corp.

Colleges

 * Millikin University (enrollment 2,400), a four year institution of higher education, has a 75 acre campus founded by James Millikin and was originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
 * Richland Community College (enrollment 3,500) is a comprehensive community college.  It is also host to the biannual National Farm Progress Show.

Public schools
K-12 public education in the Decatur area is provided by the Decatur Public School District #61. High school athletics participates in the Big 12 Conference.


 * Eisenhower High School (Mascot: Panthers)
 * MacArthur High School (Mascot: Generals)

Private schools

 * Decatur Christian Schools
 * Lutheran School Association of Decatur
 * St. Teresa High School
 * Our Lady of Lourdes School
 * Holy Family Catholic School
 * St. Patrick's School
 * Northwest Christian Campus

Parks
Local Macon County park resources include Lake Decatur, Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial, Rock Springs Conservation Area, Fort Daniel Conservation Area, Sand Creek Recreation Area, Griswold Conservation Area, Friends Creek Regional Park, and Spitler Woods State Natural Area. Decatur, at one time was dubbed "Park City U.S.A." because it had more parks per person that any other city in the country.

Transportation
Decatur Airport is served by three daily commercial flights on Cessna Grand Caravans to and from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on Air Choice One. The airport facility has hosted notable visitors Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Vice-President Dan Quayle, and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev (at the invitation of his long-time friend, Dwayne Andreas, former CEO of Archer Daniels Midland).

Interstate 72, U.S. Route 51, U.S. Route 36, Illinois Route 48, Illinois Route 105, and Illinois Route 121 are key highway links for the area, as well.

A bus-trolley system operates in the downtown and college campus areas.



History
The city is named after War of 1812 naval hero Stephen Decatur, Jr.

Decatur has become an affiliate of the U.S. Main Street program, in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Post No. 1 of the Grand Army of the Republic was founded by Civil War veterans in Decatur on April 6, 1866.

The Edward P. Irving House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1911, is located at #2 Millikin Place, Decatur. In addition, the Robert Mueller Residence, 1 Millikin Place, and the Adolph Mueller Residence, 4 Millikin Place, have been attributed to Wright's assistants Hermann V. von Holst and Marion Mahony.

Abraham Lincoln
Decatur was the first home in Illinois of Abraham Lincoln, who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1830. Lincoln gave his first political speech in Decatur about the importance of Sangamon River navigation that caught the attention of Illinois political leaders. As a lawyer on the 8th Judicial Circuit, Lincoln made frequent stops in Decatur, and argued five cases in the log courthouse that stood on the corner of Main & Main Streets. The original courthouse is now on the grounds of the Macon County Historical Museum on North Fork Road.

On May 9 and 10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur. At this convention Lincoln received his first endorsement for President of the United States as "The Railsplitter Candidate." In commemoration of Lincoln's bicentennial the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel on June 6 & 7, 2008.

ADM price-fixing case
In early November 1992, the high-ranking Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) executive Mark Whitacre confessed to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent that ADM executives, including Whitacre himself, had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, a food additive.

The lysine conspirators, including ADM, ultimately settled federal charges for more than $100 million. ADM also paid hundreds of millions of dollars [$400 million alone on the high fructose corn syrup Class Action case] to plaintiffs/customers that it stole from during the price-fixing schemes. Furthermore, several Asian and European lysine and citric acid producers, that conspired to fix prices with ADM, paid criminal fines in the tens of millions of dollars to the U.S. government. Several executives, including the Vice Chairman of ADM, did federal prison time.

The investigation and prosecution of ADM and some of its executives has been reported to be one of the "best documented corporate crimes in American history". The events were the basis of a book named The Informant as well as a film named The Informant!

Consecutive tornadoes
On April 18 and 19, 1996, the city was hit by tornadoes. On the 18th an F1 tornado hit the city's southeast side, followed by an F3 tornado the following evening on the Northwest Side. The two storms totaled approximately $10.5 Million in property damage.

Jesse Jackson protest
In November 1999, Decatur was brought into the national news when the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition protested the two-year expulsion of seven African American students who had been involved in a serious fight at an Eisenhower High School football game under a recently enacted "zero tolerance" policy. Six of the students were arrested but not charged after the fracas. Four were later charged as adults with mob action, a felony. Jesse Jackson intervened in the incident, bringing the controversy to national attention, protesting both the severity and length of the punishment and also alleging racial bias (schools in Decatur in 1999 had an enrollment that was about 44 percent black and five of the six Decatur students expelled in the prior year were black). Jackson pointed out he was invited by the students' parents and that he spoke with them, the kids, ministers and teachers before protesting the zero-tolerance severity of the punishment: "No one can survive zero tolerance," Jackson said. "We all need mercy and grace."

Outside of Decatur, public support was largely against the School Board's decision but changed once a videotape of the incident surfaced filmed by a parent at the game. Broadcast on national TV news, it showed a melee that swept through one end of the grandstands, with kicking and punching, as some of the fighters tumbled over the rails. The game was stopped and players gawked at the fighting in the bleachers. Ed Bohem, the principal at MacArthur High School who attended the game, described it as a riot: "I feared for the safety of our people -- my parents, my students," Bohem said, referring to the crowd in the bleachers. "You had people pushed through bars, people covering little children so they wouldn't get hurt. It was violent." Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH Coalition organized marches that included hundreds of people bused in from outside the area, criticizing the school board for what Jackson said was unfairly harsh treatment of the boys over a fight. Jackson was arrested and detained briefly; however, charges were later dropped. School officials say the students involved in the fighting were known as truants, described three of them as "third-year freshmen", and noted that the seven students combined had missed 350 days of high school.

The issue dissipated when the school board reduced the original expulsions from two years to one year and agreed to let the students earn credit while attending an alternative school.

The students involved in the fight have since taken different paths in life: with one being sentenced to state prison for 10 years for a 2004 felony drug conviction; another having finished college (helped by a Rainbow PUSH scholarship); another working as a butcher; and a fourth being arrested for home invasion in 2009. Jesse Jackson was criticized for turning what could have been a legitimate criticism/discussion of the effects of "zero tolerance" policies into a racial "three-ring circus" by attempting to present the seven youths as victims of bigotry (which backfired when the home video of the incident was released).

Firestone Tire plant closing causes turmoil
Decatur was named the top small metro area in 2000 by Sperling Best Places, due to its park system, 2 local colleges and vast manufacturing. The subsequent Firestone Plant closing in 2000 caused layoffs of over 5,000 workers and large numbers of foreclosures and abandoned homes. In May 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) contacted Firestone Tire about the high incidence of tire failure on Ford Explorers, Mercury Mountaineers, and Mazda Navajos fitted with Firestone tires. Investigators found that several models of 15" Firestone tires (ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT) had very high failure rates, especially those made at Firestone's Decatur plant. Investigators also found that the failure rates were brought down to normal levels when installed on other sport utility vehicles. The plant opted to pay off the lawsuits rather than recall the tires. This was one of the leading factors to the closing of the Decatur plant.  Another leading factor that led to the closing of the plant, was the age of the facility and the equipment. Firestone officials have been quoted saying that the plant was going to be closed in the near future anyway and it happened to coincide with the tire failures.

Inventions in Decatur

 * tapease Tapease Medical Tape
 * Spiral Screwdriver Decatur Coffin Companies' Early Spiral Screwdriver
 * Photo Timer Robert Faries' Pneumatic Photo Timer
 * Flyswatter invented by Robert Montgomery, who holds the patent from c. 1900
 * Radar Gun Law enforcement radar invented by Bryce K. Brown of Decatur Electronics
 * On April 24, 1923, US Patent #1452956 was issued to Arthur W. Cash of Decatur. Mr. Cash assigned the patent to Harvey A. Sellers owner of the Hi-Flier Manufacturing Company of Decatur.  The patent was for the design of an inexpensive paper kite which dominated the children's kite market from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Music

 * "Decatur, Or, Round of Applause For Your Step Mother!" is a song by Sufjan Stevens on his album Illinois. The song refers to several locations and events associated with Decatur, including the Caterpillar factory, Greenwood cemetery, the chicken mobile from Krekel's, strong historical ties to Abraham Lincoln, and the Sangamon River.
 * Canadian folk singer Willie P. Bennett wrote a song titled "Decatur" which he performed live but never recorded.
 * Musician John Doe, best known from the punk band X, was born in Decatur.

Movies

 * The Informant! is a 2009 film about the Archer Daniels Midland lysine scandal. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Matt Damon as the informant Whitacre.
 * In the 2008 film Leatherheads staring George Clooney, there is scene where a man and woman are sitting in the stands at a football game. The woman asks "how owning a football team will help sell corn starch?", then the camera pans the scoreboard and reveals that one of the teams is Decatur.
 * In the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cameron mentions his mother is in Decatur for business.
 * In the 1971 film Shaft, Lt. Androzzi informs Shaft that one of the mob bigwigs coming to the city is from Decatur.
 * In the film Bachelor Party, Tom Hanks croons that he is from Decatur, Illinois.
 * In the 1993 film So I Married an Axe Murderer, a map of Illinois with Decatur featured prominently is displayed in the background behind Harriet (played by Nancy Travis) in the film's closing scenes.
 * The 1948 Jimmy Stewart film Call Northside 777 mentions a character in the film going down to Decatur.

Television

 * In the 1960s TV series The Fugitive, the season two, episode nine entitled "Escape into Black", and airing November 17, 1964 takes place in Decatur.
 * On Comedy Central's television show The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert mentions Decatur and its slogan "We like it here" during his segment "Better Know a District", episode 47, Season Three, Phil Hare.
 * The Lincoln Square Theater located on Main Street in Decatur was featured on Travel Channel's "Most Terrifying Places in America".