Metamora, Illinois
| Metamora | |
| Village | |
 Metamora Historic Courthouse, from East Chatham Street
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| County | Woodford |
| Elevation | 816 ft (249 m) |
| Coordinates | 40°47′N 89°22′W / 40.783°N 89.367°WCoordinates: 40°47′N 89°22′W / 40.783°N 89.367°W |
| Area | 2.20 sq mi (6 km2) |
| - land | 2.20 sq mi (6 km2) |
| - water | 0.00 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Population | 3,636 (2010) |
| Density | 1,944.4/sq mi (751/km2) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 61548 |
| Area code | 309 |
   Location of Metamora within Illinois
|
|
Metamora is a village in Metamora Township, Woodford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,636 at the 2010 census. Metamora is a growing suburb of Peoria and is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Metamora is located at 40°47′N 89°22′W / 40.783°N 89.367°W (40.7911, -89.3624).
According to the 2010 census, Metamora has a total area of 2.204 square miles (5.71 km2), of which 2.2 square miles (5.70 km2) (or 99.82%) is land and 0.004 square miles (0.01 km2) (or 0.18%) is water.
Metamora was founded as Hanover in 1836. It was named for Hanover, New Hampshire by a consortium of land speculators called the Hanover Company. New post office conventions required towns to have unique names, forcing the town to differentiate itself from others in Illinois named Hanover. Early post office names included Black Partridge (1836) and Partridge Point (1837). The name of the village was finally changed to Metamora in 1845 based on the character in the popular play Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags. The village still has a Hanover Street and Partridge Street, reflecting these earlier names. Also, a popular location Black Partridge Park.
Metamora was settled by Yankee settlers. These were people from New England who were descended from the English Puritans who settled that region in the 1600s. The first group were settlers from Hanover, New Hampshire, organized by a company from Gilmanton, New Hampshire who named the town Hanover. A New England man named John Page scouted the area for the company and decided that this particular tract of land would be a good place for farms. When they arrived the area was a forest, with no roads and no structures. The New Hampshire settlers cleared the forest, constructed roads and built farms as well as a small town to support the farms. Other New England settlers arrived shortly thereafter from the states of Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts. Metamora was the county seat of Woodford County from 1843 until 1896. The Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site, a courthouse from this period, is preserved as an Illinois state historic site. Future President Abraham Lincoln and future Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson I practiced law there.
...
Wikipedia