This list of city nicknames in Illinois compiles the aliases, sobriquets and slogans that Illinois cities are known by (or have been known by historically), officially and unofficially, to municipal governments, local people, outsiders, or their tourism boards or chambers of commerce. City nicknames can help in establishing a civic identity, helping outsiders recognize a community or attracting people to a community because of its nickname; promote civic pride; and build community unity.[1] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"[2] are also believed to have economic value.[1] Their economic value is difficult to measure,[1] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.[2]
Some unofficial nicknames are positive, while others are derisive. The unofficial nicknames listed here have been in use for a long time or have gained wide currency.
Nicknames by city
edit- Algonquin – Gem of the Fox River Valley[3]
- Arlington Heights – Action Heights[citation needed]
- Aurora – City of Lights[4]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Batavia
- Beardstown – Watermelon Capital[8]
- Belleville – Belle-Vegas[citation needed]
- Bloomington – The Evergreen City[9]
- Bloomington–Normal together
- Blo-No[10]
- The Twin Cities[11]
- Buffalo Grove – The Gymnastics Capital of Illinois[citation needed]
- Canton – Plow City[citation needed]
- Champaign–Urbana
- Charleston – Chucktown[13]
- Chester – The Home of Popeye[14]
- Chicago (A to Z)
- Chi-Town[15]
- Chiraq[16]
- City in a Garden (literal translation of city motto, Urbs in horto)[17]
- The City of the Big Shoulders[18] (from Chicago, a Carl Sandburg poem)
- The City That Works (by Mayor Daley, for example[19])
- Mud City[20]
- The Second City[18]
- The White City (referencing the World's Columbian Exposition)[citation needed]
- The Windy City[18]
- Collinsville – Horseradish Capital of the World[21]
- Crystal Lake – A Good Place to Live[22]
- Decatur
- DeKalb – Barbed Wire Capital of the World[21]
- Des Plaines – City of Destiny[25]
- East St. Louis
- City of Champions[citation needed]
- East Boogie[citation needed]
- East Side[citation needed]
- ESL[citation needed]
- Effingham – The Ham[citation needed]
- Elgin
- Evanston – Heavenston[28]
- Freeport – Pretzel City, USA[29]
- Griggsville – Purple Martin Capital of the World[21][30]
- Glen Ellyn – Babcock's Grove[31]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Huntley – The Friendly Village with Country Charm[32]
- Joliet
- Kankakee – Key City[citation needed]
- Kewanee – Hog Capital of the World[39]
- Lombard – The Lilac Village[40]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Lisle – The Arboretum Village[citation needed]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Marion – Hub City of the Universe[41]
- Marseilles
- Martucky[citation needed]
- Best Little Town by a Dam Site[42]
- Mattoon – Bagel Capital of the World[43]
- Maywood – Village of Eternal Light[44]
- Melrose Park – Corporate King of the Suburbs
- Metropolis – The Home of Superman[45]
- Moline – Plow Capital of the World[8]
- Monmouth – The Maple City[46]
- Morton – Pumpkin Capital of the World[47]
- Naperville – Naperthrill[48]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Olney – Home of the White Squirrels[49]
- Park Ridge – Home of the Hawks[50]
- Pana – City of Roses[51]
- Pekin
- Peoria – P-Town[citation needed]
- Quincy – Gem City[54]
- Rantoul – Rantucky[55]
- Rockford
- Springfield
- St. Charles – The Pride of the Fox[59]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Teutopolis – T-Town[citation needed]
- Thomson – The Melon Capital of the World[60]
- Warrenville – For a Visit, Or a Lifetime[61]
- The Dirty Six-Thirty[5]
- Wilmington – The Island City[62]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Muench, David (December 1993). "Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts" (PDF). University of Wisconsin Extension. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 9, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b Andia, Alfredo (September 10, 2007). "Branding the Generic City :)" (PDF). MONU – magazine on urbanism. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "History of Algonquin". Village of Algonquin, IL. February 9, 2009. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "Aurora History – A Rapidly Growing City". About Our City. City of Aurora, IL. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
Later, when the City was the first in the United States to use electric lights for publicly lighting the entire City, it achieved the nickname of 'City of Lights'.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Urban Dictionary: The Dirty Six-Thirty". Urban Dictionary. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Schielke, Jeffery. "Our Town". Batavia History. City of Batavia. Archived from the original on October 17, 2010. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ Edwards, Jim; Edwards, Wynette (2000). "City of Energy Entrepreneurs". Batavia: From the Collection of the Batavia Historical Society. Chicago, IL: Arcadia. pp. 21–32. ISBN 978-0-7385-0795-8.
- ^ a b "Community slogans about agriculture". ePodunk. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "Pantagraph.com | Sesqui!". Archived from the original on September 12, 2012.
- ^ BloomingtonNormal.com, accessed December 9, 2015
- ^ "Pantagraph.com | Twin City Guide". Archived from the original on February 25, 2009.
- ^ U.S. City Monikers, Tagline Guru website, Retrieved January 5, 2008
- ^ Daily Eastern News[usurped]. Charleston is popularly referred to as Chuckvegas by Eastern Illinois University students.
- ^ City of Chester website. Chester was the home town of E. C. Segar, the creator of Popeye, and some characters in his cartoons were based on people of Chester.
- ^ Berman, John and Meewalla, Shani. When A Tattoo Goes Wrong, A Trend Develops. ABC News, April 7, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
- ^ Bowean, Lolly (July 14, 2013). "Chiraq: What's in a nickname? It could be a lot". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
- ^ "Chicago Park District website". Archived from the original on March 20, 2006.
- ^ a b c "Chicago Nicknames". Chicago Public Library. Archived from the original on February 11, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
- ^ "030909-MotorcoachMap" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
- ^ "The city had been built, inexplicably, in the middle of a mud flat, which necessitated raising portions of the downtown area on stilts above the sloshy earth, giving Chicago the first of many nicknames: Mud City.", Paddy whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster, Thomas J. English, HarperCollins (c) 2005, ISBN 0-06-059002-5, pp73-74, https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060590031/paddy-whacked
- ^ a b c Faber, Harold (September 12, 1993). "The World Capital of Whatever". The New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ City of Crystal Lake. Accessed August 18, 2007.
- ^ "Central Park skateboarders back to getting the boot – Mayor chases out those bored with their Fairview Park facility." Mike Frazier, Decatur Herald & Review, Saturday, November 11, 2006, p.A1
- ^ "ADM lunch puts soy in spotlight – The company spreads the word about food's health benefits." Paul Brinkmann, Decatur Herald & Review, Saturday, November 20, 1999 p.A1
- ^ "The "City of Destiny" - Des Plaines". chicago.cooperatornews.com.
- ^ City of Elgin Sustainability Action Plan, Version 2.1 (August 2011), City of Elgin website, accessed October 28, 2011
- ^ Elgin Fire Department 2006 Annual Report[permanent dead link], City of Elgin website, accessed October 28, 2011
- ^ "A Brief History of Evanston". Evanston Public Library. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
- ^ "City of Freeport, Illinois". City of Freeport, Illinois. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- ^ Claims to Fame - Birds Archived January 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, ePodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
- ^ "History of DuPage County : Lombard". www.dupagehistory.org. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
- ^ Village of Huntley. Accessed August 18, 2007.
- ^ Joliet JackHammers website Archived 2009-02-21 at the Wayback Machine (accessed June 7, 2008)
- ^ a b c d Illinois Farmers' Institute (1919), Annual Report and Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting Held in Joliet, Illinois, February 19, 20, and 21, 1919. "Joliet is known as 'stone city,' 'prison city,' 'steel city,' and city of 'snap and progress.'
- ^ a b Joliet, Illinois, Encyclopedia of Chicago
- ^ Tony Graf, Joliet’s oldest school building is a limestone classic Archived 2011-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, The Herald-News (published by Chicago Sun-Times), October 9, 2011
- ^ Joliet Central High School History Archived 2013-03-24 at the Wayback Machine, Joliet Township High School District 204 website, accessed October 28, 2011. Before 1935, the school's sports teams were known as "The Prison City Boys."
- ^ Joliet out to escape past ties to prison: City says its image is no longer behind bars, Chicago Tribune, August 13, 2006. "For the first time in nearly 150 years, calling Joliet a prison town would be just plain wrong, city officials contend."
- ^ Claims to Fame - Animals Archived November 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, ePodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
- ^ Lombard Info Archived 2010-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, National University of Health Sciences, accessed April 21, 2007. "Held each year during the first three weeks in May, regardless of the vagaries of the growing season, Lilac Time is Lombard’s celebration of a 70-year-old horticultural tradition that has led to the town’s designation as “The Lilac Village,”"
- ^ Sloganville Awards, Tagline Guru website, accessed October 28, 2011
- ^ Louis Miglio, "A Geography Alumnus Fondly Remembers," Glacial Deposits, Volume 29, 2000-2001 Archived 2007-08-23 at the Wayback Machine, Illinois State University, pages 5-7
- ^ Claims to Fame - Food Archived 2017-04-01 at the Wayback Machine, ePodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
- ^ "Village of Maywood, Illinois - Village of Maywood, IL". maywood-il.org.
- ^ "Southern Illinois". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
- ^ City of Monmouth, IL – Fast Facts
- ^ Morton Pumpkin Festival Information Archived January 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Morton Chamber of Commerce, accessed April 21, 2007. "Morton is the "Pumpkin Capital of the World". Home of Nestle/Libby's pumpkin packing plant, 80% of the world's canned pumpkin is processed here."
- ^ "Urban Dictionary: naperthrill". Urban Dictionary. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ White Squirrel Wars, Roadside America, accessed April 21, 2007. "Olney, IL; Marionville, Missouri; Kenton, Tennessee; Brevard, North Carolina; Exeter, Ontario. Not one, but five towns use albino squirrels as their claims to fame, and none is particularly happy about the others."
- ^ "Maine South High School". south.maine207.org.
- ^ City of Pana Illinois
- ^ a b Barry Popik, Smoky City, barrypopik.com website, March 27, 2005
- ^ Claims to Fame - Plants Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, ePodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
- ^ Another Gem City Landing? Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, WGEM, April 10, 2007, accessed April 21, 2007. "QUINCY – It was an event that attracted thousands of people from around the world to the Gem City and then it moved to a different location -- Rantoul."
- ^ Willhite, Lindsey (August 4, 2008). "Rugged 'Rantucky' tough starting spot for Illini". Daily Herald. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ About Rockford Archived 2009-03-01 at the Wayback Machine, City of Rockford, Illinois website (accessed June 7, 2008)
- ^ "This is Why Rockford is Called Screw City". 967 The Eagle.
- ^ Staff Writer. "Letter to the editor: Lisbon doesn't need a blight ordinance". The State Journal-Register.
- ^ St. Charles, Illinois Traffic Counts[permanent dead link], City of St. Charles website, accessed December 6, 2010. "We're the Pride of the Fox, Come see why!"
- ^ Thomson Chamber of Commerce website (accessed June 8, 2008)
- ^ City of Warrenville website
- ^ The History of Wilmington, IL Archived 2008-12-27 at the Wayback Machine, City of Wilmington website
External links
edit- a list of American and a few Canadian nicknames
- U.S. cities list