This weekend, Jacksonville’s year-long bicentennial commemoration culminates with the Budweiser Clydesdales, a drone show, parades, musical entertainment and other festivities. Jacksonville is celebrating a long and varied history. It has been a prairie town, an Underground Railroad stop and home to one of the state’s first colleges as well as state facilities for special needs populations. On a lighter note, it’s also home to an amusement park rides manufacturer that’s still building thrills after more than 100 years in business.
Those rides would have been unimaginable in the early 1800s, when the town’s roots were forming. Surveyor Jonathan Shelton laid Jacksonville out on 40 acres in 1825, a few years after settlers from southern states arrived in the county, according to the Morgan County and Jacksonville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau’s websites. The predominant theory is Andrew Jackson, a respected general in the War of 1812 who became the U.S. president in 1829, is the town’s namesake. Another story is it was named for a local enslaved boy by the same name.
Mayor Andy Ezard says some highlights of the town’s history include the early settlers’ dedication to education and Abraham Lincoln’s activities there, which might have included visiting then-Gov. Joseph Duncan at his Jacksonville home, 4 Duncan Place. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and served as the state’s executive mansion during his tenure from 1834 to 1838. It’s now open for tours throughout the year.
Education was an early focus for Jacksonville beginning in 1829 when Illinois College, now one of the state’s oldest continuous higher education institutions, was founded by religious men from Yale. They came to uplift and minister to this part of what was then the wild west, according to an article in the spring 2012 Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. The school’s Beecher Hall was the first college building in the state, according to the IC website, and is still in use today. Some college staff and students were part of the Underground Railroad and used the Hall to help enslaved people seek freedom.
Other industries came to Jacksonville later: a railway company, cigar and shirt factories, a book-binder and an album manufacturer (Capitol Records built a facility there in 1964 to help keep up with demand for making Beatles vinyls).
One current Jacksonville business, the Eli Bridge Company, has been there since 1919. Although Eli initially made bridges, the company’s website says it started building Ferris wheels after founder W. E. Sullivan was inspired by one at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His 45-foot-high creation, named “Big Eli,” had its first turn in 1900 in Jacksonville’s downtown square, where the bicentennial celebration will be this weekend. Visitors can ride an Eli wheel and scrambler ride there for free.
The celebration has been a year in the planning, Ezard said, and aims to “show appreciation to folks around the Jacksonville area for what they’ve given us over the years.”
In addition to the weekend’s activities, the event will debut the end of a downtown renovation. “We just spent a lot of money the last 20 years redeveloping our downtown, and the last phase was finished up with an arch erected recently,” he said. Visitors will see an arch over the north, south, east and west spokes off the downtown square.
The celebrations begin on the square Friday, Oct. 3, with homecoming parades for Routt Catholic High School and Jacksonville High School, followed by a visit from the renowned Budweiser Clydesdale horses at 5 p.m. and a kick-off party with musical entertainment.
Illinois College’s homecoming parade starts Saturday’s festivities at 10 a.m., followed by events that culminate at 8 p.m. with a 20-minute drone show. Events include a burgoo, music, trolley tours, petting zoo and other children’s activities, presentation of items from a 1975 time capsule created during Jacksonville’s sesquicentennial and more.
Time capsule items are on display at the Jacksonville Area Museum, which showcases many facets of the town’s history and will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 4. The capsule was buried in Jacksonville Central Park and recovered earlier this year. A pair of “groovy” (according to the JAM website) shoes from the era were included, along with eight track tapes, menus from area restaurants and more. Perhaps the most touching items to residents are about 200 letters from locals for family and friends. Some will be read at 2 p.m. on the square on Saturday.
Janet Chipman’s husband, Bob, wrote one of those letters in his own handwriting when he helped plan the town’s sesquicentennial.
“Bob was 23 and I was soon to be 22. We were recent graduates of Illinois College and were beginning our professional careers,” Janet said. “In the letter he reflected on past events – personal and national – and as a history major, pondered the future with this question: ‘…yet the principles of our free government hold strong and bind our republic together! In 50 years, what will it be like?’” He wished their children and grandchildren “the opportunity to receive a good education” and a spouse to share their lives and dreams.
Bob included several things in the time capsule, including their wedding invitation and pictures, and his IC graduation program. Janet said he was looking forward to Jacksonville’s 200th anniversary, but he died last year.
“The letter, especially, and the other materials are treasured by our family. It was bittersweet to read his love-filled words while experiencing the void of Bob’s physical absence,” added Janet.
To view the full schedule of events for Oct. 4, go to the Jacksonville Area Convention and Visitor Bureau website: https://jacksonvilleil.org/event/jacksonville-illinois-200th-anniversary-bash/ or Jacksonville Illinois Bicentennial page on Facebook.
Tara McClellan McAndrew is a freelance writer in Springfield who has written extensively about local history.
This article appears in October 2-8, 2025.
