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Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, known as "The Soybean Capital of the World" was founded in 1836 and is located in Central Illinois along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur. In 2000, its population was 81,860.

With its central Illinois location it forms the center of the Decatur, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area, (population 125,000) which includes surrounding towns of Argenta, Bement, Bethany, Blue Mound, Cerro Gordo, Clinton, Dalton City, Elwin, Findlay, Forsyth, Harristown, Illiopolis, Kirksville, La Place, Macon, Maroa, Monticello, Moweaqua, Mt. Auburn, Mt. Zion, Niantic, Oakley, Oreana, Stonington, Sullivan, and Warrensburg.

This town is named after War of 1812 naval hero Stephen Decatur, Jr.

Decatur has many tree-lined streets, older restored homes, and historic residential districts and restored downtown commercial areas. In the transition from a manufacturing to a service economy, Decatur has experienced some population shifting outward in the area as decentralization has led much of the area's new homebuilding activity to the surrounding areas.

The city symbol is the Transfer House, an early 20th century Victorian structure originally located in the center of town where the city's mass transit lines met. The Transfer House was moved in 1963 to save it from destruction as roads were being built for the increasing automobile traffic.

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

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 unofficial motto.

Geography

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Decatur is located at (39.851636, -88.944228).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 118.8 km² (45.9 mi²). 107.6 km² (41.6 mi²) of it is land and 11.2 km² (4.3 mi²) of it (9.42%) is water.
Lakes include Lake Decatur, formed in 1923 by the damming of the Sangamon River

History

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Decatur was the first home in Illinois of Abraham Lincoln, who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1831.

On May 9-10, 1860 the Illinois Republican State Convention was...