Western

Western Illinois covers the broad agricultural country between the Illinois River and the Mississippi, a region of rolling till country, river bottomland, and small farm cities running from the Wisconsin border south to Quincy and Pittsfield. The terrain is mostly flat in the eastern counties and along the river bottoms, more rolling along the Mississippi bluffs in the west, with the Illinois River cutting through Peoria and Tazewell counties. Twenty-six counties cover the region. Peoria holds Peoria, the largest city; McLean holds Bloomington-Normal and Illinois State University; Knox holds Galesburg (Carl Sandburg’s birthplace); Adams holds Quincy; Hancock holds Nauvoo; Rock Island holds the Quad Cities (Rock Island, Moline, East Moline) on the Iowa border. The Putnam Museum, the John Deere Pavilion, and Black Hawk State Historic Site cluster in the Quad Cities; Nauvoo’s restored 1840s Mormon settlement anchors the western edge. Most trips here split among industrial-history, college-town, and river threads. The Quad Cities run a multi-day John Deere, riverboat, and music itinerary; Galesburg handles Sandburg’s birthplace and the historic depot; Bloomington carries the David Davis Mansion and the McLean County Museum; Nauvoo runs Mormon-history visits.